Children of The War, Book 1: Water
by James Golen
Summary: Thirty years ago, a good man gave in to his own evil. Because he did, everything changed. Now, the Avatar must navigate a harsher world, less friends, more peril. But there is hope: An accident left an acrobat where she ought not be. AU.
1. Daughters in the Shadows

**Alright. My first foray into the world of Avatar. I could put forward a prologue, but there's enough information which needs to be disseminated that this will have to do. First, the legal stuff: Avatar doesn't belong to me, I'm just playing with the dials a bit. Its characters and world and all the fun things inside it are the creation of better storytellers than I. All I want to do is explore what could have been, even as the canon went forward.**

**First of all, there are a few changes to the world. First, there are languages. The big three, the ones most spoken, are: Yqanuac for the Water Tribes both North and South; Tianxia, and its many dialects, as a lingua franca, a trade language, and the primary language of the East Continent (AKA, the Earth Kingdoms); and finally, Huojian, the language of the Fire Nation. As a rule of thumb, the Tribes speak Yqanuac and maybe Tianxia. The Kingdoms speak Tianxia, and sometimes another minor language. Except for a few groups, such as fishermen, traders, well educated nobility and the like, the Fire Nation speaks Huojian and nothing else. The language barrier is one of the reasons the war is so bitter.**

**Second of all, there are ethnic groups. The most prevalent in the story, since they become increasingly relevant as it will move forward through the books, are the peoples of the Fire Nation. It is composed of three primary ethnic groups; the Azuli on the west coast, the Embiar on the south and down the archipelago, and the Sozu between them. The north used to be home to the Hui, but their civilization was lost generations ago. Mai is an example of a stereotypical Azuli, Ty Lee, of an Embiar. Zuko and Azula, while culturally Sozu, hail from the bloodlines of the Hui. This also shows up in cultural tendencies and taboos which some people have, but others don't. Ty Lee doesn't care about showing a bit of skin, but Aang would be mortified... until he got used to it, at least.**

**Third, and this will be glaring for all the shippers out there, Suki is a different character. While I like the portrayal of her as the badass-est of badass normals, ever since watching Avatar Day, I got a notion in my head: What if Suki were voiced by Jennifer Hale? So I aged Suki up by about a decade, and saw what that made of her. Age and maturity, in an era of war, has made her a different person than she was, but that doesn't mean I've sent her out to die for your ship. It just means there are other stories I want to tell, and hers'll be quite interesting if I ever get to it.**

**And lastly, this story starts for want of a nail. Because the Avatar spent a bit more time futzing around in the world after getting out of the iceburg, everybody's just a little bit older. Accordingly, Sozin's Comet is coming at the end of the Summer, but I did not specify WHICH summer. And the change which started it all? Which made this story turn out as it did? Ty Lee had an accident, and ended up stranded on Kyoshi Island. For a year.**

**Anything else important will be mentioned when it's relevant.**

**I do hope you'll forgive any missteps I make during this initial period. This functions as a way of helping me get a feel for the Avatar World and the people in it. You'll notice that sometimes things are just mentioned, and never said: That's because the people who made the cartoon did a pretty good job of it. If they did it better than I conceivably could, I see no reason not to let their work stand. This work doesn't replace the first season, it just sort of... flows around it.**

* * *

Mai stayed where she always did; in the background. Her father was talking excitedly with some general or another. She didn't particularly care who. All that mattered was that there was another push going on. No more fiddling about with occupying towns or villages. An actual campaign to take a major city from the Earth Kingdom. And what did she think of it? Nobody cared what she thought, so she didn't care about them.

"Think of the glory we could achieve at Ba Singh Se," Chan declared. He never 'said' anything. He, like a few of the older military minds, had no concept of indoor voice. "With one mighty strike, the resistance to the occupation by our Nation would be at an end!"

"You forget your place," Wu Shan quietly said. "The Dragon of the West could not take Ba Singh Se in six hundred days of siege, and he had the brilliance of tactics to bring down the outer wall right under their feet. How would you propose to do better?"

"War Minister Qin will answer for me."

"I will do no such thing," Qin said peevishly. "The drill is months away from completion. It is an undertaking of engineering the likes of which this world has never seen. If you want to invade 'the Impenetrable City' before next summer, then you should hope you can surpass the Dragon. I doubt you could."

"What about your armored vehicles?"

Qin smiled at that. "Those are almost ready to be deployed. The prototypes were very successful, and I believe I have come up with a solution to the inversion problem..."

"Enough of this technobabble!" Deng said quietly, as he often did. Still, as one of the eldest and most respected of the Fire Lord's generals, his quiet words carried ten times their own weight. "We cannot take Ba Singh Se without Qin's drill, and even then, I believe it a pipe-dream," Qin looked a little annoyed, but held his tongue. "And besides, at the end of that summer, is not Sozin's Comit due to return? We will take Ba Singh Se then, and they will have nothing that could stand against us."

"Omashu," the words silenced all in the room. Even Mai straightened up a bit. Ozai's voice had that effect on people. The Fire Lord had been silent until now, but he was a calculating man. He spoke when he was ready. "A vital strategic point in the southern Earth Kingdom. It commands a very potent stronghold, on a naturally defensible point. When taken, it will be impossible to oust the Fire. Cripple them, and remove their 'legitimate' ruler, and the people will lose spirit."

"Omashu," Deng said, nodding.

"Omashu," Qin smiled. "The Salamanders are already in transit, some of which are stationed on Whale-Tail. We can begin the invasion in two months."

The fires which raged at one end of the chamber made Ozai an inhuman specter, something seen in silhouette if at all. His expression was utterly invisible. Then, Mai assumed, came the nod. "Omashu will fall. Make it so."

Mai sighed, as she often did. "Great, we're getting shuttled away from civilization to push papers and baby-sit some yokels."

"Silence yourself!" her mother hissed. "This is a great opportunity for advancement. Don't you know how hard your father has worked to even be in this room?"

"Not hard enough, apparently."

"Mai!" her mother scowled, rubbing her belly. "I only hope your brother or sister will be a little bit more manageable than you."

"Whatever. I'm going home. While I still have one," Mai got up from her bench at the back of the room, turning away from the Fire Lord, her father's hopelessly and drearily eager toadying, and her chastising mother, to move toward the small side door which the servants used, but would raise less of a fuss than opening the grand and golden doors which stood opposite the great throne. She paused, just past her mother's place, then turned. "Just one thing. Where in Agni's name is Omashu?"

* * *

Suki looked angry. Well, she didn't really _look_ angry, because anybody wearing that much face-paint didn't have much expression at all. But her aura was angry and she was stomping toward the barracks with more haste than happy, and less than panic. Ty Lee kept walking along the railing, upside down, on her hands. Suki briefly looked up, and was surprised to see her at eye level, despite their difference in alignment.

"Girl, I've told you to stop doing that. The other warriors find it unsettling. One of these days, you're going to fall off and break your neck," Suki said.

"Why are you in such a bad mood?" Ty Lee asked.

"Annoyances and aggravations," Suki responded. "Somebody claiming to be the Avatar has just washed up on our beach."

"Is that why you all left in such a hurry?"

"Yes, girl. You really had better pay attention. The world just seems to pass you right by, doesn't it?" Suki moved past the acrobat and entered the dojo.

"I notice things. Lots of things," she complained. She dropped down and followed the warrior. "Besides, 'claiming to be' the Avatar? I thought people gave up on that one during my grandfather's time."

"Those were charlatans trying to bank on the significance and spiritual importance of an individual to get money, or power, or fame. This is... well, he is a child. And he speaks... well, he speaks as though he were from over there," she pointed to a hut near the center of town.

"What?"

"Everybody speaks Tianxia, but he speaks it the way my mother spoke it, and her's, and her's before her," there was a long pause, as Suki leaned down to examine her paint in a mirror. "And I think he might be an airbender."

"Oh, now that's just impossible," Ty Lee said cheerily. "They've been gone for hundreds of years!"

"One hundred years," Suki corrected. "Give or take a decade. Well, he might have the elders – and the rest of the blighted Warriors – eating out his hand, but if he is a reincarnation of Kyoshi, then I am the Fire Lord."

"No you're not. You're taller than he is, for one thing," Ty Lee said. "And you don't have a beard."

Suki chuckled. "Sometimes I think you do that just to be silly."

Ty Lee smiled wide, "Everybody should have a good laugh every day. It's good for the skin."

Suki rolled her eyes as the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors began to file into the dojo. Suki's expression, such as it was, went from amused, back to all-business. "Alright, ladies. We've all had our big introduction with this so-called Avatar. Now remember why we are here; remember why our namesake assembled us and taught us her way of fighting. We are here to prevent another Chin the Conquerer, another Kaii the Bloody, another would-be tyrant from stepping foot in our land and making us bend knee."

"This is the Avatar," one of the girls said. Ty Lee called them 'the girls', even if Suki tended to be more professional. It didn't make sense to her; most of these soldiers were still teenagers like Ty Lee. All of them unwed, and only this handful remaining because the rest had gone off to war against the Fire Nation. Ty Lee wasn't sure how she felt about that. It hadn't been so long ago when she would have been rooting for the Fire Nation to wipe the Kyoshi Warriors out. Now, perhaps despite herself, she desperately wanted them to win, to come home in one piece.

"He _claims_ to be the Avatar," Suki said. "I, on the other hand, have a documented matrilinial descent from Kyoshi herself. And since my sister is missing in battle, and her children are too young to bear the name, I act as the Hand of the Avatar. This boy is the Avatar if _I_ say he is. Understood?"

The Warriors nodded their unanimous agreement. Suki smiled then, a small, professional smile, taking her seat at the head of the room. "Good. Now, back to drilling. We can't be sure when trouble is going to walk through that door. Form of the Crab!"

Ty Lee loved watching the Warriors train, even if she was never allowed to join in. This was for the daughters of the Island, and by extension, the Earth Kingdom, only. Ty Lee had been lucky in that she didn't need to lie about her provenance, but that just meant they thought she came from the unaligned lands in the North Seas. She'd been here almost a year, and they didn't trust her yet. But then again, they might have reason not to: she was a Fire Nation noble, after all. The Kyoshi Warriors went through their stances, looking nothing less than hawks, gracefully cutting the sky, before entering the stoop and claiming their prize.

"Sorry ladies, didn't mean to interrupt your dance lesson," a foreigner said, a wide grin on his goofy face. "I was just looking for some place to get a little work-out."

"Well, who's the cute one?" Ty Lee asked. Suki shot her a look, but the foreigner just got a smug look on his face.

"Well, you're in the right place," Suki said, not rising from her cushion. A smirk came to her face. "Sorry about earlier. I didn't know you were friends with 'the Avatar'."

The young man obviously didn't hear Suki's derisive inflection. Of course, Ty Lee had been trained from birth to read volumes in the slightest nuances of tone. And his Tianxia was pedestrian at best. The way he talked... Water Tribe, maybe? He did have the eyes. What lovely eyes...

The tribesman limbered up, oblivious to the slight he'd been dealt "That's alright. I mean, normally, I'd hold a grudge, but seeings as you're a bunch of girls, I'll make an exception."

Suki almost laughed at that. Ty Lee could tell how hard she was trying to hold it in. "I should hope so. A big... strong... man, like you, we wouldn't stand a chance."

"True..." he said. Pretty, but the boy sure was oblivious. "But don't feel bad. After all, I'm the best warrior in my village," Ty Lee wondered how small that village would have to be. Still, he did have such lovely eyes. Suki must have read Ty Lee's mind, because a dangerous smile came to her face.

"Wow. Best warrior in your whole village?" she actually missed a chuckle that slipped out. "Maybe you'd be kind enough to give us a demonstration?"

"Oh. Well, I mean..."

"Oh, come on. Girls? Wouldn't you like to see the 'great warrior' show us some moves?" Suki prompted. By now, stifled laughter was spreading through the ranks. At any moment, like a steam-geyser, it threatened to erupt into open mockery. And that would be wrong. Funny, but wrong.

"Well, if that's what you want, I'd be happy to. Sokka, by the way. Just so you'll know the name of the greatest warrior in the Southern Water Tribe," he took up a fighting stance. Or rather, what he must have thought was a fighting stance, because Ty Lee was fairly sure she could have pushed him over with one finger. She really wanted to see if she could.

"Zhen?" Suki asked, and Zhen moved forward. The boy went on with great bravado and pride, but even Ty Lee could have seen his sloppy punch coming long enough to have made tea before it landed. She stopped him with a jab to the armpit. He tried a few kicks, but she just moved out of the way, with as little effort as Ty Lee leaping onto a roof. Finally, angered, Sokka rushed at Zhen, who caught his wrist and flipped him to the floor. The girls dissolved into raucous and unmitigated laughter. Suki beckoned Ty Lee over.

"What is it?" she asked.

Suki smirked. "How'd you like a crack at him?"

"Really? Does that make me a Kyoshi Warrior?"

Suki suddenly looked a little insulted. "What? No. I just thought you shouldn't be left out of the fun," she cleared her throat and rose to her full stature. She was a figure which overtopped every man in the village; that was the legacy of Kyoshi. She looked well down at Sokka, then smiled. "Perhaps you should have a partner more your aptitude. Ty Lee?"

Ty Lee stepped forward, smiling wide. "Hello, handsome!" she said.

"Oh, now this isn't funny anymore," Sokka complained. "She's just a girl!"

"So are all of us, aren't we?" Suki asked, and that smile got just a bit cruel. "Surely, the greatest warrior in all of the South Pole can hold his own against a little girl?"

"Fine. I'm sorry to have to do this, lady, but," he let out a fierce-ish cry and lunged forward. Before she even had the chance to think, her body did all the work. She was out of the way, and in perfect position. A swift jab to the joint of the shoulder, and his arm was useless and numb. A hard, two-fingered jab to the side of the buttock, and his leg went out from under him. A fairly light poke behind his ear, and his jaw went, and he landed on the floor like a bag of millet. All of the Kyoshi Warriors stared at her in shock. Some of them were taking a step backward.

"Ty Lee, I didn't tell you to kill him!" Suki said urgently.

"I can't feel my face," Sokka slurred from the floor.

"Chi-blocking," Ty Lee happily explained. "Turns your body against you. He'll be fine in a few hours, like nothing happened to him at all."

The Warriors began to whisper amongst themselves. Ty Lee couldn't restrain the grin. She was something unique to them, now. Something never-before-seen. A girl who can bring down a raging bull... well, a raging Tribesman, with three pokes of her fingers. Suki leaned down to Sokka. "Anything else you want to teach us? Hmm? No? I guess 'greatest warrior in the Southern Water Tribe' got passed to you by default. Ladies, show him the door."

When the Warriors took the numb and defenseless Tribesman outside, Ty Lee caught Suki's sleeve and demanded her attention. "That was just mean, Suki. You didn't need to say those hurtful things."

"Didn't I?" Suki asked. "Face it, girl, the world is at war. The Fire Nation isn't going to go easy on him just because he's clueless. As I see it, the fewer fights that boy gets himself into, the longer his life will be."

"But..."

"Don't argue this. It's already done," she said.

Ty Lee pouted. "If you keep acting like this, you'll never get a boyfriend."

Suki looked at Ty Lee for a long moment before shaking her head. "Sometimes, I forget how young you are, Ty Lee. Then you say something like that and it all crashes home. Girl, I am blood related to just about everybody on this island. The only way I could find a husband would be doing things the Fire Nation way and having an arranged marriage from the mainland."

"You're mean."

"You're naïve."

"I still like you," Ty Lee offered. Suki laughed. "You have a pretty aura."

"Oh, you bizarre creature. What I would have missed had the circus not come to Kyoshi Island," Suki's tone went serious, then. "But there is one thing I'd like to know. How did you learn to do that... chi-blocking, you said it was. I've never seen somebody go down that hard with all their blood in their veins and an intact skull."

Ty Lee knew she had to lie. She couldn't tell her about Piandao's private lessons, the long evenings with her sweltering in saunas so that she could feel where her own chi ran, the slow pressure of hot-rocks teaching her where each pressure point lay. Every bit of it would scream Fire Nation faster than reciting the national anthem in its proper Huojian. So Ty Lee smiled, as she always did when she was backed into a corner. "I learned it in the circus. You'd be amazed at the things those people can do. I once saw a man who could swallow four swords at once!"

"Then I regret not spending more time there before they departed," Suki said. She looked Ty Lee up and down. "Do you think you could teach us this technique?"

"You? No. You're fists are too big. You'd just be punching people," she said. It was half-way honest, too. "As I was told, it's half-way between fighting and massage, and I've never seen a masseuse in those hands."

Suki looked a bit annoyed, but then shrugged. "It couldn't hurt to ask. Anyway; I'm having a few girls over for dinner tonight. Afterwards, a game of Pai Sho. Would you like to come?"

"Really? For real?" Ty Lee beamed. "I'll be there nice and early. What should I wear? Will there be boys there? What are you serving? Should I bring a gift?"

Suki shook her head slowly, wearily. Ty Lee didn't care. She was recognized. She was special.


	2. Dancing Lessons

**Still fairly close to Canon, but things won't stay that way forever. Also, I liked the way Sokka and Ty Lee played off each other. I don't think I got Sokka right at first, but he gets better and more Sokka-ish as it goes.**

* * *

Ty Lee dangled her feet over the edge of the roof. She had a habit of going places other people didn't want her to go, but the dojo was one place where she was perennially welcome. She watched Agni rising in the east, as it climbed above the hills which flanked the village to both sides. Day broke as quickly as it ended here. It was a lovely place. A bit cold, though. She looked down, and saw Sokka, the tribesman, kicking rocks, always looking toward the building. She wondered what he was doing, and was a little surprised when he made for the door, sliding it open. He wavered, then. Second guessing himself? Ty Lee silently dropped down beside him.

"She's probably upstairs," she said helpfully. Sokka let out a high pitched yelp and turned, taking another exaggerated fighting-stance. She just smiled at him.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" he asked.

"Do you want me to?"

Sokka's expression became a bit dire, then he turned. "Could you... not do that in the future? I mean, for your own safety. I couldn't be held responsible if you surprised me and I... lashed out!" he suddenly loomed over her trying to seem threatening. She smiled, he faltered. "Um. Heh. Anyway. I'll just head up and... What? What are you looking at?"

"You have nice eyes," she said. He just stared at her, blinking deliberately, before forcefully turning and heading inside. She pondered a moment. Should she follow? As much as it would be funny to see him make a fool of himself, at this point, it would seem petty. Still, hope springs eternal; she cheerfully made her way upstairs, where Sokka was already knocking on Suki's bedroom door. Suki, bereft of her make-up and her hair flattened to one side of her face, did not look impressed.

"What do you want at this hour in the morning? Come for another 'dancing lesson'? Should I call for... Oh, well, there she is. Would you like another session with the circus performer? Or would that be too much for you?" Suki asked as she dragged her hair into a loose tail.

Sokka did what neither woman expected, and lowered himself to a bow. "I came to apologize. I would be honored if you would teach me. I'm sorry I thought of you as 'just a girl' earlier. I was wrong," he said. Both women shared a glance.

"You were wrong. And no, I cannot teach you," Suki said.

"Because I'm a man?"

"No. The Kyoshi Warriors are not exclusively a female force, just preferentially," Suki grabbed Sokka's hand, engulfing it in one of hers, and brought him to his feet. "There are other styles of combat more suited to the male form; Kyoshi's training caters to the feminine. But, I am not without sympathy. You did what I did not expect today. You admitted your own prejudices and sought to make amends. That puts you on a higher level than quite a few of my neighbors."

"But you still won't teach me?"

Suki took a purging breath, then closed the door. Sokka looked crestfallen, but then the door opened again, and Suki strode out, wearing her sleeping robe and carrying a set of Kyoshi Warrior armor and paint. It couldn't be her own, because it was far too small for her. "Come downstairs."

Suki sat down on her cushion and handed Sokka the armor. "Put this on," she said. Sokka looked at it suspiciously, but began to pull the light, mobile armor over his clothing. "No. The uniform is designed to be worn whole," Sokka stared at the woman for a moment, then shrugged. He pulled off his tunic and pants without a second thought, which made Suki glance away out of respect. Ty Lee didn't bother. It wasn't just his eyes which were pretty. He didn't even react to her watching as he got armored. "And the paint."

"Really? I'm starting to think you're just getting a rise out of me."

"The rest of the girls are out gallivanting with this 'Avatar' of yours. I doubt we'll see them until he's exhausted his tricks and their patience," Suki said.

Sokka paused, just an hair away from licking the face-paint on his fingers, and stared at Suki. "You don't believe he's the Avatar?"

"He is a boy, and if an airbender then a unique one. But my great-grandparents fought and died under the flag of a so-called Avatar eighty years ago. Forgive me if I'm a bit skeptical that the Avatar vanishes for a century, and now suddenly appears, and it's a teenage boy. Now, the paint. And don't lick it. It's dreadfully bitter."

Sokka's expression became amused. "And how would you know...?"

"Everybody licks it eventually," Suki said. She motioned Ty Lee closer. "Now, I can't train you, because if I did, I'd probably break something. The girls train new recruits, and I oversee. Since there are no girls here, Ty Lee will have to suffice."

"But you said..."  
"You've watched us just about every day for a year. I think you're a sufficient stand in," Suki said. "But don't cripple him again. I don't want to have to wait an hour every time he gets hit."

"Got it. Tingling and weakness only," Ty Lee said. Suki frowned.

"You can do that?" she asked quietly, probably to herself. She shook her head. "You still haven't painted your face."

"Do I really have to wear this? It feels kind of... girly."

Suki chuckled. "You should be proud. It is a military uniform, centuries old. Silk and boiled leather, representing the resilience and tenacity of the people, of the blood that flows through my veins from the Avatar herself. The paint pattern is derived from a malicious spirit Kyoshi defeated in the spirit realms, a signet of victory over what was considered impossible odds."

"Pride and honor," Sokka said, his tone actually a little reverent. As he began to apply the paint, a bald-headed boy looked into the dojo and grinned.

"Hey, Sokka! Nice dress!"

Sokka wilted.

"Do you see why I'm not convinced he's the Avatar?" Suki asked Ty Lee. She shrugged.

"He seems like a lot of fun," Ty Lee said. "Wasn't Kyoshi involved in all sorts of games in her day?"

"Regardless. Sokka, our technique involves using an attacker's strength against him. Since you're of a more limber than burly type, I suspect you will have some facility in it," Suki said. She leaned back, tossing Sokka a metal fan. "Like in earthbending, to us, combat is about waiting for a proper moment, then seizing it. Think of the fan as an extension of your arm."

Sokka fumbled with the instrument for a moment before getting it open. "Alright. It's part of my arm. A really long, metal arm. Got it."

"Ty Lee?" Suki directed. Ty Lee moved forward and jabbed him in the side of the shoulder, making Sokka yelp and drop the fan.

"Hey, no fair! I wasn't ready," Sokka complained.

"Tell that to a firebender, see how reacts," Suki said. She shook her head. "You're still thinking with your muscles. You need to think with Ty Lee's. Again."

Ty Lee smiled and moved again. This time, as she moved to disarm him again, he took a step backward, and gave her an unexpected shove with his other hand. She was so surprised, she actually fell backward, almost landing on her back.

"I only fell to make you feel better," Ty Lee lied. Sokka's eyes grew bright.

"I got you! I actually got you," he seemed quite pleased with himself. Suki tutted loudly.

"Don't become arrogant, tribesman. Arrogance killed 'Chin the Great' and continues to do the same to thousands of young warriors every day. Now, let's see if you can do it again."

Ty Lee surged forward again, and Sokka moved back. Most of the time, she struck home. It didn't surprise her. She was faster than most people, and her technique allowed her to bring somebody down from just about any angle. But still, every now and then, when she least expected it, Sokka managed to dodge a certain blow, to deflect her attack, to break her base, to drive her back for a few moments before she regained her ground. By the evening, they were flowing around each other like water. It was almost like dancing. Dancing with occasional pain, and a lot of sweating.

"Not bad," Suki said, eating her dinner. The smell of rice and fish brought Ty Lee's stomach to rumble, reminding her just how long she'd been at this little 'dance'. The day had passed so quickly. Sokka, too, was tired.

"Not bad?" Sokka asked, taking a lean on the door.

"From her, that's about as high a compliment as you're going to get unless you're Earth King Kuei or Kyoshi herself," Ty Lee explained. "It's been fun, but I've got to go. Dinner doesn't make itself."

"You did well too, Ty Lee," Suki said as Sokka began to practice his moves against invisible opponents. "For one who was never actually taught, you manage to teach our style passably well."

"Awww, thank you so much!" she said. "Well, I'll see you all tomorrow."

"You can count on it," Sokka said, before letting out a loud kiai and kicking a post, hurting his foot, and falling over. Ty Lee giggled, then left, walking through the red light to her hut near the edge of town. The people here had been kind enough to provide it to her when she said she would be staying until the circus returned. They were due back sooner or later; they had promised they'd be back months ago, but they often went places they'd never planned when the money looked good. She settled down in front of the oven, with a quick glance over her shoulder, and bowed her head.

In her native Huojian tongue, she whispered, "_Praise to Agni who provides light and warmth, and the crops in the field, who sate our hungers and give us life. Praise to the Fire Lord who directs the flames to keep his people safe. Praise to the Fire; without it, we are cold and alone_." Her daily benediction said, she dug into the food she'd prepared to eat at lunch, but had completely forgotten about.

Things had changed so much in the three years since she left home. But she knew she had to leave. She saw what was waiting for her if she didn't join that circus that day. A lifetime of being mistaken for somebody else. A lifetime of non-identity. A lifetime of being 'one of Juo Hiao Baihu's daughters. No, the other one'. And all she had to give up was everything she was. Even trade, really. She quickly checked the cage she set up near the roof. The golden pigeon-rat stared down at her, nibbling on a nut. That was hers, trained like a proper Fire Nation hawk, to carry messages anywhere in the world. To her parents. She had nothing to say to them. The cage next to it was empty. Nobody had anything to say to her either, it seemed.

A grunting call brought life back to Ty Lee's face and soul. It sounded so much like home that a pang of homesickness stung her before she sighed and smiled. It made her think about the rhino pens her father kept as part of his job. People were always scared of rhinos, but she always got along great with them. Nothing on Earth didn't love being scratched on the neck. A second grunting call then sounded. Ty Lee got suspicious. She shelved the meager remnants of her meal and looked outside. Dian, a rather excitable boy whom she had the displeasure of briefly dating, was running screaming up the street. Hardly unusual behavior for him. But he was screaming one word, which made Ty Lee's stomach sink.

"Firebenders!"

The Fire Nation had come here. No, that couldn't be! There must be some mistake. There was no reason to come to Kyoshi; it was too far off any beaten trail to be a viable target, too small to support much of a garrison, and didn't have enough infrastructure to... Agni's flame, she was starting to _think_ like her father!

The rhinos numbered five, and crashed forward, ignoring any obstacles in their path. On the roofs, Ty Lee could see the Kyoshi Warriors, ready even with such little warning, preparing for the take-down. Then she saw the man on the foremost rhino. His head was shaven, save for a tail of hair which was pulled up from the back of his head. A burn marred the left side of his face. His eyes were the color of burnished gold. She almost didn't recognize him.

"Zuko?" she asked. He didn't hear her. If he did, she would have been quite angry at the fireball he threw in her direction. She dived back into her hut. Why was he here? Why did he look like that? Then she remembered. Zuko had been banished. That was the last message she'd gotten from him, and one of the last she'd gotten at all. But why here?

"_Find the Avatar, bring him to me!_" he shouted in Huojian.

The Avatar. Was that boy really the Avatar? Suki didn't seem to believe it, and she made her disbelief known by tackling the prince off of his steed. She twisted his arms behind him, trying to prevent a firebending attack. He spat a gout of fire out of his mouth, singeing her feet and making her take off. No Kyoshi Warrior continued to fight if they lost their advantage; it wasn't the way they were taught. And from the looks of things, these men outmatched them, for the moment, anyway. A Firebender broke off from the fray and moved toward her. She squeaked her alarm and moved back into the hut. He barged in and leaned down.

"Where is Avatar, girl?" he asked in broken Tianxia. She looked around, trying to decide if she should just take him out before he caused trouble. She was saved from it by a gravely, deep voice calling to him.

"_What are you doing there, young man?_" the voice asked.

"_She might know where the Avatar is_," the firebender replied, not looking away from her.

"_She is a peasant girl from the Earth Kingdom. What could she know?_" he asked. The voice was so familiar. Could it be? Could it possibly be?

It was. Iroh, the Dragon of the West, leaned into the hut and looked Ty Lee in the eye. He turned to the firebender and pulled him lightly. "_There are better things for you to do today. Help the Prince. He is young and he thinks much of himself. It would be shameful if he were captured_."

"_Yes, General Iroh._"

When the firebender departed, Iroh watched him leave, before squeezing his wide, short form through the door and sitting on the floor near Ty Lee. His broad face bore an easy smile. "_Yours is a face I thought I would not see again for a very long time. And certainly, not here, Ty Lee_."

"_Why... What... How did you know which one I was?_" she asked.

"_How could I forget one of two people Azula could play with without setting on fire? Intentionally, anyway. I hope you don't mind if I prepare some tea?_" Iroh asked, firebending the stove to life and setting the kettle onto it.

"_Is this really the time to have a cup of tea?_" Ty Lee asked.

With a stern tone, Iroh turned to her. "_It is _never_ the wrong time to enjoy a cup of tea._"

When he said that, she couldn't restrain herself from hugging the rotund man. "_It's good to see someone from home._"

"_I assure you, the feeling is quite mutual_," Iroh said quietly. He gently moved her aside and poured himself a cup. "_It will not be the best, for it was brewed with haste, but regardless, I will remember it fondly, because you were here to share it. Now, I'm fairly certain my nephew has gotten himself into trouble by now if he's trying to fight the Avatar._"

"_Is he really the Avatar?_" she asked.

"_I believe he is_," Iroh said quietly. "_And even if he wasn't, he gives my nephew hope, and that is worth more than gold_."

"_It was good to see you again_," Ty Lee said, with absolute honesty. Iroh just smiled, took his cup, and left the hut. Ty Lee quickly hopped onto the roof and looked around. Her heart broke a little, seeing the village in flames. But the Warriors were gaining the upper hand. Rhinos ran riderless into the hills, and the firebenders were retreating, unable to keep their sights on Suki's elusive students.

"_Uncle, the Avatar is escaping_!" Zuko shouted from a short way away.

"_Then we will follow him_," Iroh answered. There was a long pause.

"_Uncle, where in Agni's name did you get a cup of tea in the middle of a battle?_"

"_If one fails to appreciate the finer things in life, can one really be said to have lived?_" Iroh asked. Ty Lee wasn't really sure what that meant, but it seemed to get Zuko moving. She was happy to have seen Iroh again, but she felt a little sad about Zuko. His aura was all tied up in knots, and she was afraid for him. But there was nothing she could do. They were both exiles, but in different ways and for different reasons. Still, she felt homesick again. Iroh was like family.

"Ty Lee, are you alright?" Suki's voice cut through the pandemonium. Ty Lee jumped down, and met Suki at a corner. "I saw a firebender coming this way, and I didn't have time to stop him. Did he harm you?"

"Me? No, I'm just fine. What about you? You're all singed and smoky," she pointed out a part of her uniform which was smoldering. Suki idly patted it out.

"Good. The soldiers are leaving, following the boy. Some Avatar he turned out to be," she sounded bitter about it. "Girls! Get to the wells! We need to put out these fires!"

"Um, Suki?"

"What?"

"Isn't that the Unagi?" she pointed out to the bay. The Unagi, the great sea serpent of Kyoshi Island, was rearing up out of the water. Astride its brow, almost invisibly small for the distance, was the orange robed airbender. The Unagi lashed out at the Fire Nation ship, battering it, before loosing its water-laden breath over the town. It landed like a torrential rain, soaking the women standing in the open to their skin, and dousing every fire that still burned. Then, as quickly and impossibly as he had arrived, the boy seemed to take flight and vanish into the distance.

"That was neat!" Ty Lee said.

"I think I was wrong," Suki said, the water having scoured her paint away. "I think... that boy Aang might just be the Avatar."

Ty Lee smiled. "Told you so."


	3. Loners and Liars

**I feel I managed to get Iroh down well when he appeared. Still getting a grasp on Mai, though.**

**A note on time: While terms like minute, hour, and second are still used, the Fire Nation is still a very solar nation. While all cultures have terms for Sunrise, Sunset, and Noon, they also use Waxes and Wanes to mention specific hours of the day even in the absense of clocks. I realized in order for this conceit of mine to make sense (along with the 'not having eternal night in winter at the North Pole' thing), the world of Avatar needed to have a very small axial tilt. There is very little difference in seasons in the world, except that which would be caused by the small difference in the distance the planet revolves around the sun. Oh, and the sun? It's not just a mass of incandescent gas; it is also a spirit, called Agni.**

* * *

They called it 'good news'. Mai didn't agree, but they didn't care what she thought. Good news. Months of preparation, thousands of soldiers massing for months, and King Bumi opens up the doors before the first meaningful fireball is thrown. That was Mai's last real hope. Since her father was just an administrator, he was never in any danger; as long as the siege went on, there was no reason for the family to go anywhere. And Omashu, according to every bit of history she could scrounge up – which was extensive, considering the city was as old as earthbending itself – it should have been able to last out a siege of at least a year until the cabbages ran out and the people started starving. A year in familiar, comfortable opulence. Was that so much to ask?

Apparently it was, because the siege of three hundred days didn't last three hundred seconds. Some days, it seemed like the universe itself was out to make Mai miserable. Not that she needed much help. She looked around her room once again. So much remained on the walls, draping from the ceiling, tucked neatly into corners. She couldn't take it all with her, and even if she could, it wouldn't matter, because she wouldn't be home.

"Don't stand around there moping," her father said as he passed the doors. He looked exhausted, but considering the harrowing experience of trying to manage a household being shut down with a wife inconveniently going into labour, it was no surprise he was depleted. She just gave him a glance, but he was already clear of receiving it. Ever since Tahm Xin arrived, she had been utterly forgotten. Business as usual.

She didn't blame Tahm-Tahm. He didn't know what he was doing. Agni's blood, he didn't even know how to roll over. She was a little surprised that she wasn't more resentful, but then again, this was her brother. Mother had been trying for so long to give Mai a sibling, and perhaps quietly give the family a more suitable heir. Well, now she had it, and she was exulting with joy. It got on Mai's nerves.

"Come on, Mai. We don't have all day," Fu Yin said as he passed the doorway again.

"Really? Like Omashu would just dissolve into sand if you arrive there an hour too late?" Mai asked sarcastically. Father leaned into the room.

"Mai, I know how much apprehension you feel about this," apprehension didn't come close, "but this is the opportunity I've been waiting for – that _we've_ been waiting for! A successful term of office overseeing and administering the first major city captured in the Earth Kingdom could place me as a permanent fixture in the court of the Fire Lord."

"And why would that be such a great thing? You know how he treats anybody whom he finds the slightest fault with," Mai said, her tone flat and empty. She felt a little empty bringing it up, too. Father got a stubborn look on his face.

"Look here, Mai. I understand you're bitter about the Prince's banishment, but his political gaffe almost destroyed my career."

"Oh, is that what I am to you?" Mai asked, her tone suddenly acidic. She'd often been told that she lacked the passion or rage to train to become a Firebender, but this instant, she could have set the house on fire with her eyes. "Am I just some political token? Some convenient bit of treasure that you'll just throw at the highest lord you can find and see if somebody will stoop down and pluck me up?"

"Mai, don't be so dramatic."

"Why not? I think if I'm going to be dramatic, it ought to be now!"

"Mai!" Fu Yin shouted. Mai recoiled a little, seeing that unlikely expression of anger on his face. "We have duty to our nation. Duty is in our blood! Our duty elevated us from the commoners with General Ataou during the time of Yangchen, when the Fire Nation was the world's favorite charity case, the world's greatest joke. Our duty held our family together and made what was the worst place in the world into the greatest civilization that this Earth has ever seen. And now, our duty sends us to Omashu. I will not have some short-sighted girl destroy the great legacy of this house, this family, and this bloodline with her petty rebellions. We are going to Omashu, and you are coming with us. Is that clear?"

Mai hung her head. She'd voiced her feelings, her desires, and once again, she was cut down. Just like always. She didn't matter. "Yes, Father," she said, so quietly. Fu Yin stared at her for a long moment, before taking a purifying breath, and taking a step backward, out of her room. He still had an uncharacteristically angry look on his face.

"Good. Now finish packing. We leave when Agni reaches quarter-waning," and with that, he left, leaving her alone in her dark room. It was red, like all rooms in this palace, but she'd specifically picked hers out several years ago. It was subdued, darker, less garish and eye-aching than the shade found in other places, like the Fire Palace. She liked it. But now, she was going to have to get used to brown, or whatever color that coward Bumi used to decorate. She sat down on her comfortably padded sofa, and dropped her head into her hands. She felt a particular emptiness inside her. She was alone. Exiled.

Briefly, her thoughts turned to Zuko. Ever the golden Phoenix prince, always kind, always considerate. Always there when she needed to rant to somebody about her parents, about her position, about her Agni-damned 'duty'. But then he was banished. Then Ty Lee, that often-times annoying little monkey of a girl, abandoned her family and joined the circus, of all unbelievable things. Then Azula began to turn inward, spending so much time in the Fire Palace, that Mai wasn't entirely sure she hadn't just died, and nobody felt like admitting it. And she was alone. The last of that unlikely motley of friends; two minor nobles, the prince and the princess.

She briefly considered crying, but it seemed like a dreadful waste of energy and water. Instead, almost mechanically, she put the last of the things she felt like bothering to take with her into a case, and then walked out of the room which had been her own, to a place where she didn't belong. Garish red, almost daring somebody to doubt their conviction to Fire, assaulted her. She could just go outside, wait in the palanquin for the rest of the family. But she had a thought. She turned and went up the stairs, past the storage room and onto the balcony on the roof. One last time, she stared up at Agni from its chosen homeland. She felt the heat as it was intended to be felt. She heard a squawk next to her. Annoying her out of her brief foray into nostalgia, she turned to the coop. A flight of hawks, known for more piercing cries, milled about. It would not have been they.

Throwing decorum to the wind, she reached purposefully but indelicately into the cage. She pushed past feathers and occasional fur – most likely a hawk's uneaten dinner, to which she scowled every time she passed over it – and finally closed her hand on something out of place. When she did, she felt a jabbing pain in her finger. Something was biting her. She didn't cry out in pain; that would be common. Instead, she bore with it and extracted the interloper. It was a silver pigeon-rat. She frowned at it, not quite understanding. She briefly looked at her hand. It hadn't been cut, but the nail had been smashed. No doubt it would go black with blood, soon. She'd have to do something about that.

Then she remembered. It struck her like lightning; Ty Lee gave her a present when she left, but Mai had never gotten around to opening it. She'd said that it was important, if she ever wanted to keep in touch. Mai had other problems, and it had passed to her servants. This must have been what Ty Lee had left her, something she had just never gotten around to noticing for more than three years. Ty Lee had left a part of herself, in her usual, ridiculous fashion, for Mai. If Mai were any other woman, she would have been touched. Mai, though, recognized that she didn't have much time.

Mai ignored the pain in her hand and rushed back to her father's study, the closest room with a full writing set. Knowing she didn't have time for proper etiquette and calligraphic procedure, she hastily flattened the paper and began to scribe in hasty, almost unforgivably sloppy symbols.

"_Ty Lee, wherever you have gone, the day is grim. We are all exiles. Azula, vanished into cloister. You, departed with scandal. And now I, duty-bound to the lesser lands_," Mai paused, tapping the brush on her fingers as she often did. She felt a flash of pain when she unconsciously did it on the wounded digit, and rubbed it. She glanced at her hand. Ink had covered several of her fingernails. Hmm. An interesting look. She glanced down at the paper. It was incomplete, and she knew it. She didn't know what to put. So she opted for simple, honest. Common. "_I feel very alone, right now._"

"Where could that girl have gotten to?" Father asked, as he rummaged through the house. Mai, her haste only evident in the speed of her movements, which were usually extremely fast to begin with, hastened the not-even-dry paper into the carrier, and shooed the bird out the window. With any luck, it would find Ty Lee. With Mai's luck, it would probably be eaten by a real hawk. Father came into the room just as Mai rose from her knees. "Why... what are you doing, Mai?"

Mai's expression was flat, her bright grey eyes deadened, and her tone, dreary. "Saying goodbye," she answered. She quietly moved passed him, and toward the stairs. "I'm ready to go."

* * *

Zhao was not amused. General Iroh: once Crown Prince of the Fire Nation and Dragon of the West; now, he was an aggravating old man. Iroh's broad, bearded face betrayed no emotion as he calmly, almost casually supped of tea. Zhao could have left others to watch Iroh, but the Dragon of the West was a reputation that bore one to be cautious. So a courteous invitation for tea and conversation seemed the best path. The old fool had agreed to it, after all.

"I must say," Iroh finally broke his silence. "I have had better tea."

"You and your damned tea," Zhao muttered. "I have had just about enough of this!"

"You ought to learn to prolong your temper. Rash action could be the end of you," Iroh said cryptically. Zhao went from not amused to outright angry. This was Fire Nation land, reached across Fire Nation water. The boy-prince had the audacity to violate his father, the Fire Lord's, order of banishment, and more annoying, thought a simple trick of smoke would throw Zhao off the trail. While he knew the moment he docked with the ship that the fallen prince would not be aboard, there were formalities to observe. Protocol to follow. A knocking came at the door.

"What is it?"

"We've searched the ship, sir," an Imperial firebender said quickly. "There is no trace of Prince Zuko aboard."

"Just Zuko. He is no longer prince of an anthill, let alone the Fire Nation. What of his effects?"

"Still aboard, sir."

"Dismissed," Zhao turned to Iroh, closing the door. "The boy is gone, but all of his effects remain aboard. How would you try to account for this, old man?"  
"My nephew decided that he would seek impoverished enlightenment in meditation at the Northern Air Temple," Iroh said. Zhao scowled.

"Do not lie to me, old man."

"Why would I lie? Prince Zuko..."

"He is not a prince!" Zhao interrupted.

"_Prince_ Zuko," Iroh stressed this time, "decided to better himself spiritually, rather than take part in a fool's errand. Bringing the Avatar to my brother will not restore his honor, and he is beginning to realize that."

"Yes, and if I believe that, then I am an airbender," Zhao snarked.

"Oh, I thought they had all died out. It's a pleasure to meet you," Iroh said. Sometimes Zhao didn't know whether the old man was being glib, or if he really was that stupid. Better to assume glib.

"The boy was here. He thought he could escape in the smoke, but you are going to tell us where he is, am I clear?"

"On who's authority, _Captain_ Zhao?" Iroh asked. "I am a _General_, mind you."

"You're no General, Iroh. You are nothing. But right now, that is the best you can manage. Up until now, you were a traveling companion for the boy. You were on an over-long and unnecessary vacation. But if you choose to assist the idiot boy in his treason, then you will be throwing your lot in with him. You will be a criminal, and you will share the boy's fate."

"You would tell my brother that I came into Fire Nation waters, on the ship which I requested he give me, without anything but your suspicions about Prince Zuko, and you expect that Ozai will brand me a traitor and an outcast?" Iroh let out a belly laugh. "Oh, I didn't suspect you would have such a sense of humor!"

"You can't hide Zuko from me, not in my land."

"This is not your land, _Captain_ Zhao," Iroh said.

"It is as much mine as it is yours, old man," Zhao said, his jaw tightening into an angry rictus. "While your ancestors were ruling from on high in the Fire Palace, mine were fighting to ensure its greatness. When Sozin ordered the extermination of the Air Nomads, my grandparents were there. In the Western Air Temple, when the Comet had just barely arrived. They did their duty to their nation. On the fourth and final day of the Comet, they were moved to the Southern Air Temple, and broke their spirits and destroyed their nation."

"But you met resistance, didn't you?" Iroh asked, pouring a new cup of tea.

"The other airbenders died like koala-sheep. Begging for us not to kill them, but never raising a hand to defend themselves."

Iroh sighed. "They were not begging for their lives, Captain Zhao, they were begging for your souls."

"Don't quibble semantics with me, old man," Zhao snapped. "One of them resisted. One. An ancient monk, alone and weeping. When the Imperial firebenders approached, he lashed out, a storm of rage which slay two dozen, before his many wounds brought him to death. My grandmother survived that carnage, my grandfather did not. Do not claim I know nothing of sacrificing for my country."  
Iroh scoffed, tugging on his grey beard. "You suffered once, two generations ago, and call yourself a child of martyrs. Captain Zhao, I descend from those who were born to a nation stillborn. No leadership. No resources, the only arable land on risky, volcanic soil, which allowed no crop the Earth Kingdoms or Water Tribes could offer."

"Don't quote history to me, Iroh," Zhao said. "We developed as we did because we had to. There were no other options. It was advance, or die. We chose to advance. And now, our advancement makes us the greatest nation in the world."

"The greatest navy on the waves, or the greatest military machines on land, or even, were such a thing possible, the greatest fleet in the heavens; these would not make the Fire Nation great. It is folly to think so."

Zhao turned red with rage. But he held it in, just this once. He forced a calm expression onto his face. "What you're saying, Iroh, is dangerously close to treason in itself."

"The only treason is this tea. Bah! I would pour this into an ocean if I didn't think it would poison the fish," Iroh made a petulant face and set the tea aside. "I will not help you find my nephew. His path, he should walk alone, today. I was not much older than him when I left the Palace. And look what it got me!"

"Fat, old, alone, and stupid," Zhao answered. The old man put on a hurt expression. Zhao growled, turning away from the fallen general, the once Dragon of the West. He cast along his mind, trying to find something that made sense. Iroh was supposed to be an honorable, honest man. But he was obstinate and difficult to the point of insanity. Zhao swept his arm out in an arc, smashing the tea-kettle off the table and shattering it against the wall. Zhao slammed his fists down on the table, and the drawer popped open a bit.

"You should control your temper, Zhao. You'll live longer," Iroh said. But Zhao wasn't paying attention. He opened the drawer, and set the scrolls out on the table. The notion suddenly came into focus. It became an idea. The idea percolated, and he scanned, fingertip running along lines of characters, until it blossomed into a certainty. Yes. This Avatar was the reincarnation of Roku, once Great Citizen of the Fire Nation. While Zhao didn't bother messing about with the spirit realm, he did understand certain truths about it; namely, Zhao knew that the solstices were when the spirit and physical realms supposedly intersected. And the Avatar was without guidance from anybody alive. Which meant, he would have to derive guidance from one dead.

"Roku's Temple," Zhao said.

"What have you got there?" Iroh asked, trying to peek over Zhao's shoulder.

"Guard, remove this person from my ship," Zhao shouted. Iroh had proven to be useless. He could have come up with this plan all on his own. Come to think of it, Zhao had come up with the plan all on his own. And nobody could say otherwise.

"No, seriously, I'm very interested," Iroh kept trying to see.

"Something I picked up in a library a few years ago. You are no longer welcome on my ship, old man. Leave."

"Very well, I know not to overstay my welcome," Iroh said, just as the doors opened and Imperial firebenders entered the room. As calm and regal as the Fire Lord striding to his throne, the man who once could have been Fire Lord departed, guided but untouched by the soldiers who once would have died for him. It was for the best that Iroh abdicated, that Ozai had taken the throne. Had that old man remained, the Fire Nation would have crumbled at what was currently its strongest. Iroh was weak. He didn't deserve to rule. Only the strong, like Ozai, like Zhao, deserved to be masters of the world. And when Zhao handed Ozai the Avatar, he would become stronger still. Zhao the Avatar Hunter. Zhao the Invincible.


	4. Avatar Day

**You'll notice that some chapters are longer than others, and some are shorter. That's just because some of these chapters I couldn't justify splitting them up. Others fit between large, contiguous chapters, and should stand on their own.**

**And you will also notice that I'm bringing in Avatar Day in what should be the first season of Avatar. When I watched that show, I always felt like it was a first season story which didn't make it to the plate in time. Besides, it worked to bring Ty Lee into the story and start things off with the Gaang for when she returns in Book 2, but teamed up with Azula against them. Trust me. I know what I'm doing... Maybe.**

**One more thing you'll notice is that 'redshirts' like Mongke are using very high level techniques in Firebending. I figure, if you make it to the high level in the military, it's because you kicked a lot of heinie to get there. So it works if Mongke can imitate Azula's tricks, if on a smaller scale. After all: Mong Ke is no Azula.**

* * *

Iroh scanned his gaze across the island, off in the distance. A pang of homesickness tugged at him; it was the closest he had come to returning to the land of his birth since he chose to join his nephew in his quest. A red-brown blob in the distance. The Fire Nation. Odd, how so many people seemed to equate the two in their minds.

"It's been a long time," Jeesaid. Iroh nodded, then turned, laying down the black soldier tile. His opponent scowled; Jia knew that it was, at this point, just a matter of time until Iroh destroyed him. Pai Sho was a game where a cunning mind could do very well. As long as one hid how cunning one was.

"Zuko will return."

"And if he doesn't, what does that mean for us?" Jee asked. Jee was hardly the highest ranking officer on this boat. That was Iroh himself, but Zuko laid the course. Jee was popular amongst the men, though. As a former Imperial firebender, Jee commanded a great deal of respect, and cut an impressive figure. But his place on this ship was borne of desperation. His discharge from the navy had not been clean nor pleasant.

"He will return," Iroh said again, moving the white lotus to its next intersection. At this point, he didn't even look at the board. "Zuko will not allow himself to fail, nor be captured. Not by the likes of Zhao. Even if he does not capture the Avatar, he will come back."

Jee shook his head. "I don't know why you bother with that boy. He has no respect, he has no discipline, and he has no focus,"  
"Not yet. He is young. That will change," Iroh blindly made a move, prompting Jia to groan loudly. Iroh knew Pai Sho well.

"Why did you chose to join him?" Jee asked. Iroh raised an eyebrow. "You are not a general anymore, and I am not a sergeant. We are two men on the waves, unable to return home. Why? Why didn't you just return to your palace?"

Iroh sighed, then reached to one side and moved the white lotus one final time. Jia began to swear profusely in Yqanuac. If there were a Water Tribesman aboard, they would have blanched. "When I walked the Earth in my youth, it was my choice. I did what I wanted to, made myself into whoever I needed to be. Zuko does not have that choice, does not have the options I had. He does not have the resources. I'm just trying to help him find the path, just like I did four decades ago."

Something changed on the island. A spot moving against the background. Iroh smiled. Too small to be Zhao's ship, by a wide margin. Jee grunted. "Sounds like you're trying to be the boy's father."

"Funny you should say that," Iroh said, but then got distracted. The ship was approaching fast. It was indeed Zuko. He stood and leaned at the rail. The boy was rod-straight, his posture rigid. What had happened?

"Is that him?" Jee asked.

"It is," Iroh then turned away, facing the Pai Sho board, beginning to scoop up his winnings and tiles. "We will be pushing hard tonight to get out of Fire Nation waters, but don't despair. We will have plenty of time to rest when we... Where is my white lotus tile?"

The skiff steamed hard and docked with something of a crash. Iroh was a little alarmed, though. He couldn't see his white lotus. It was the cornerstone of his game! He checked the pouch, the board, the deck around it. Nothing. "I suppose we'll be going underway?"

"Yes. Make for the port city of Di Wan," Iroh said. He paused. "And don't tell Zuko. He's probably in a bad mood."

Jee chuckled grimly. "You don't need to tell me twice."

Confound it all, that tile was simply gone! What a way to ruin a wonderful evening. Prince Zuko made his way onto the deck, over to the bow. He raked his fingers along his shaved scalp, then cast out his arm with a roar of rage. A gout of flame as long as the ship arced away before fading into smoke. Iroh quietly moved to his nephew's side.

"I failed, Uncle," Zuko said quietly. "I couldn't capture the Avatar."

"Today, you failed, but the day is ending," Iroh said. "Tomorrow is a new day, and anything is possible. The chase will resume, and you will find your true destiny. The Avatar will bring you to where you need to be. I just have that feeling."

Zuko turned to his uncle. "Sometimes, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Iroh brightened. "Do you know what we need on this ship?" Zuko scowled, and Iroh raised a finger. "A tsungi horn!"

"I'm going to sleep," Zuko said. "Take us to safe waters."

"Yes, Prince Zuko. And then, a tsungi horn."

* * *

"So this is Omashu," Mai asked. The firebender next to her nodded briskly behind his face-concealing blast mask. Mai had always considered how ridiculous it was for firebenders to armor themselves the way they did. The armor of a firebender protected them from other firebenders, but against steel, or against earthbenders, they might as well be wearing a silk bath robe.

"The site of our glorious victory," he said proudly. Mai scowled.

"The site of their ignominious surrender," Mai countered. She watched as the steel coffin was winched steadily upwards.

"_The view from up here is terrific!_" the insane king shouted gleefully.

"Is he going to do that the entire time we're here?" she asked.

"I can only hope not," her father said, staring up at Bumi's literal but not metaphorical ascent. "It upsets Tahm-Tahm. And it's a great distraction."

"I wouldn't call it great," Mai said.

"There's no reason to be so mopey, Mai," Fu Yin said, his expression happy and bright. It just made Mai want to find some dark spot and say nasty things in languages few people would understand. "We are the regents of this land. All that it possesses is ours for the taking!"

"For the Fire Lord's taking," Mai said. "We get the scraps."

Fu Yin faltered a bit, unable to deny his daughter's correction. "Well, still, there's much that we can gain while were here. Wealth, power, influence..."

"Which we didn't exactly lack for at home," Mai said.

"This is our home, now, Mai," he said.

"Really? Then where is the red and gold? Where is the scent of fire-flakes and snap-rice? Where is the heat? By Agni's blood, it's cold here," Mai shivered a bit. "This is not home, Father. This is your office. Thanks _so_ much for taking me to work with you."

"There's no reason to be sarcastic," Fu Yin looked more than a little annoyed. But still, he didn't respond with nearly the vigor or oppressiveness that he usually did. Ordinarily, he would have dressed her down to within an inch of her life for talking back like that in front of the firebenders and workers. Now, though, he just took it with a shrug. Maybe he stopped caring. Maybe it was just because there was nobody here that mattered, and he knew it.

"I'm going some place warmer," she said, leaving her father to oversee Bumi's incarceration. The old king was quite insane, but possibly the most powerful earthbender alive. Steps had to be taken. If it were up to Mai, there would be no iron coffin. Just one long, iron nail, placed in exactly the right spot. If there was one thing mother taught her, it was doing things efficiently and properly, no matter the personal cost. Damn her.

Mai headed through the palace which stood fairly low on the structure, all things considered. In Sozin City, the Fire Palace was an island amongst its lesser brethren, overpowering and overwhelming the city. Here, the palace was a buttress. Just one of three which held up the highest parts of the city. How could these outlanders be so fundamentally and pervasively wrong? She had already explored much of the palace, knew a great deal of its supposedly hidden spots. It was her job. Her mother had raised her to understand that to her bones.

There were touches of civilization that had been brought into the palace. Proper braziers, steam engines and ovens. Tasteful decorations in red and gold. Here, Omashu was Fire Nation. The rest of the city? Just an overgrown village, full of rubes and yokels. That's what her parents wanted her to believe. She didn't know. But then again, she didn't care. They weren't Fire Nation. There were no doubt plots amongst them to spend their lives to assassinate the regents even now. If Mai found them, she would deal with them. Until then, she moved through the hallways like a drab, desaturated ghost. She quietly opened a room and slipped inside.

This place had been laid out in a trinity. Three beds in a well furnished and well appointed, if somewhat drab, room. It suited Mai's mood. Fu Yin, father, he didn't realize what this place was. This was not advancement. This was purgatory. Limbo, a dead-end. She lay back on one of the beds, confident that nobody would come this deep into the palace, and just stared at the roof.

A scratching sound brought her attention back to the waking world. She looked over, to see a silver pigeon-rat crawling through one of the air-holes. She didn't quite understand what it meant, until it hopped down onto the floor, its wings held tight to its back, and scampered to Mai's foot. It stared up at her, as though waiting.

Mai looked at it, and it looked back. It didn't have a message case. It couldn't be... She leaned down, and grabbed the little vermin. It didn't struggle very hard. She looked it over. It could be. She didn't know how, but... She looked at its leg. Tied around its back leg was a scrap of parchment. She pulled it off. It was tiny, only large enough to hold a few, cramped characters. When she read them, she found herself sitting on the edge of the bed once again. An uncharacteristic smile found its way onto her face. Suddenly, the day seemed a bit less drab.

She tucked the scrap into her sleeve, next to the arrow launchers and amongst the knives. She took a deep breath, and lay back once more, thinking of home as she slowly drifted into a nap. As she fell asleep, the last thing she thought of was that message.

"_You're never alone – TLB_"

* * *

"Why do you always do that?" Ty Lee asked, despairing when Suki laid the white lotus at the center of the board.

"It's within the rules," Suki said.

"Yeah, but it's not fun! Every time you start, within five lays its 'white lotus' and I know I'm going to lose," Ty Lee pouted a bit.

"I play to win," Suki said. She stared out over the waters again. Ty Lee didn't mind the change in scenery. Usually, when Suki played, it was inside her dojo, but today, she must have felt a need for something different. Today, they played on a horn of the shore, overlooking Unagi Bay. The wind was cold, but Ty Lee had gotten used to it in her travels. Besides, it was nice and sunny.

"Sometimes I think you're cheating," Ty Lee said.

"There are lessons to be learned. I play the white lotus because that is part of my strategy, not just in Pai Sho but in war. The white lotus has very little inherent power. It is limited to one intersection of movement. It does not threaten paths. It does not fortify, it cannot attack without reinforcement. It has the lowest earn if captured, and is the only piece which has no earn if destroyed. But it has its use, and very few players see it," Suki explained, moving soldiers down parallel paths. One, legal move, and the board shifted.

"So why do you always play it?" Ty Lee asked. She glanced at the ocean. A golden flash brought a smile to her face as one of the Elephant Koi leapt into the air, before crashing back down into the waves. The Unagi must have moved to its deeper lairs.

"White lotus can capture anything," Suki said. "It can restore anything, it can reinforce anything. More than that, white lotus represents something."

"Wow. That's all... meaningful and stuff," Ty Lee said. "Sounds like something an old friend used to talk about all the time."

"Really?" Suki asked. "And who was this?"

Ty Lee quietly cursed herself. She couldn't tell Suki, and lying would be risky. She forced a smile. "Just somebody my parents used to know. Family friend."

"Does this family friend have a name?"

"Lee," she said. There were a million 'Lee's out there.

"Hrm. I suppose you were named after him?" Suki moved again, but this time, moved back, shaking her head. She paused to ponder, a moment. Instead, she laid a Badgermole.

"What? No. There was theme naming. Everybody got a name which sounded like somebody else's. It made it easier for Mother to call us for dinner," Ty Lee said. It wasn't Mother who would have been doing the dinner calls. In truth, Mother was just as unable to identify her daughters from each other as everybody else in the Fire Nation was. Well, just about everybody. She felt a cold breeze against her back, and she turned. "Why are we out here, today?"

"Today is Kyoshi Day," Suki said. "And, several dozen miles north of here, it's Avatar Day in Chin."

"Avatar Day? I thought you'd be happier," Ty Lee said, moving her Ostrich horses to the back-board.

"Ordinarily, I'd let it pass without a second thought. But now, the Avatar has returned. They mock and revile the Avatar in Chin, burn them in effigy. That town is more Fire Nation than Earth, which is ironic, considering the Fire Nation actually came to Earth's aid to bring down his empire when he died," Suki frowned at Ty Lee's play. "What are you doing?"

"Well," Ty Lee forced a casual tone, "I guess the Fire Nation can't be all bad."

"That was almost four centuries ago. That Fire Nation is gone," Suki said. "That can't be..."

"By your own admission, the Fire Nation once saved the Earth from subjugation under a tyrant. They rendered a service to civilization itself. And where did those people go? Capture, and then capture, then rout."

Suki stared at the board as Ty Lee took control of Suki's white lotus, then proceeded to take over most of Suki's pieces. Suki smiled a bit, but then looked up at Ty Lee.

"What you're saying makes you sound like a Fire Nation apologist," she said.

"I just like to see the good in people," she replied.

"You really do, don't you?" Suki smiled, then began to scan the Pai Sho board. She shook her head. "I can see I can't recover from that."

"So I win?"

"You try to see the good in people who don't have much good in them," Suki said, shifting her soldiers back into a safer position. That probably meant no.

"Excuse me? The _people_ don't have good in them?" she asked, not even trying to modulate her voice. "People are people. They have their own wants, their own needs, their own desires. It doesn't matter whether you speak Yqanuac, Tianxia, or Huojian, whether your eyes are grey, blue, or green. People are people. You look at the Fire Nation and you see Sozin and Ozai? Well, maybe they look at you, and they see Chin."

Suki nodded. "You're not from Great Whales, are you?"

Ty Lee instantly regretted her outburst.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said. Suki stood up, plucking her pieces from the Pai Sho board.

"You don't have the eyes of Great Whales. Theirs are blue, green, or a mixture of the two. Yours are grey-brown. And you're not Hichiman; they've got their own look, and it's not yours. Now, if you'd claimed descent from southeastern Earth Kingdom, south of Si Wong, I might have believed it. You don't have a Whalesh accent. I've never heard you speak Whalesh, even to yourself."

"Well, that's because..." Ty Lee scrambled to find some explanation that Suki would accept. None came to mind.

"Your outlook is diametrically opposed to every Whalesh person I've ever met. They tend toward the dour. You are anything but. However, that's circumstantial. You don't have an accent at all, I might say. Not North Earth, not Si Wong, not Omashu, not Slow Waters. But what damns you... What gives you away completely? Rice. You eat rice with _every_ meal. Not bread, not bannock. Rice."

Ty Lee was silent, still. There might still be a way out of this. She really didn't want to have to fight her friend. She knew how to, but she doubted she could pull it off. Or even if she could bring herself to. Suki leaned down at the acrobat.

"You're Fire Nation," Suki said. "You're from the colonies."

If Ty Lee could have gotten away with it, she would have breathed a sigh of relief, instead, she spoke with an inflection of feigned shame, "Yes. Yes I am. I'm from Colony 28 in the North Sea."

Suki nodded. "Fire Nation are people?" she asked. She sat back down on the ground. "You are right about that. So. How do you like the Earth Kingdom?"

"This place is almost more Water Tribe than Earth Kingdom. Wait, why are you so calm about this? I'm from the homeland of your enemy."

"Yes, but you are not my enemy," Suki said. "And besides, if you were going to assassinate me, you had more than enough chances to before now. That would make you either an incompetent assassin, the most subtle one ever, or else, not one at all. And I tend to believe the stance which requires the least mental acrobatics."

Ty Lee giggled at the pun. Suki looked across the sea one last time. "I assume something unpleasant happened? To make you want to leave your people?"

"Oh, it's nothing serious," Ty Lee said. "I just wanted a change of pace."

"Sure you did," Suki began to walk toward her home. "People don't talk about things for three reasons. One, because they fear others will use the knowledge against them. You don't seem the type to have skeletons in your wardrobe. Two, because something from their past is deeply, but personally embarrassing. Since you don't seem to know the meaning of embarrassment, that's unlikely. Three, because they have something in their past which is deeply upsetting. Now, you won't talk about it, and I won't pry."

"Thank you," Ty Lee said. A smile came back to her face. "Want to hear a Fire Nation joke?"

"Better now than when we get back to the town," Suki said, a smirk on her face.

"An Embiar, an Azuli and a Sozu walk into a bar. The Embiar lays down and cries, the Azuli blames the Sozu, and the Sozu orders the execution of everybody involved," Ty Lee laughed at the end. Suki just stared at her. "...'cause they all hit their head. On the bar. Then..."

"I guess thats just one of those things which doesn't cross cultural barriers very well," Suki said. She looked back, then squinted. Ty Lee looked up as well. Something white and poofy was approaching. It was like a cloud, but it was moving against the wind. "Well. Looks like some old friends have come to pay us a visit once more. Come on. They'll be headed for the town square."

"Who?" Ty Lee could barely make out the shape.

"The Avatar. Now hurry up, and don't tell the village. One can be wise, but the many are stupid."

"That sound's like something Lee once said."

"Then _he_ must have been quite wise," Suki said. Then, the two women began to run down the hills and along the rocky bay. Ty Lee knew that if she were paired off with anybody but Suki, they would have been left behind long ago. Years of acrobatics, both with the circus and in her training with Piandao, had left her with what some called a superhuman level of endurance. So much so, that she rarely needed to sleep more than two or three hours a night. It was less than a sliver-wane of Agni by the time they reached the town square. And right on schedule, the enormous white thing gently swooped down, and landed on its six legs. She had never seen anything quite like it. Dian pushed his way to the front of the crowd, and immediately went into a mouth-frothing frenzy. He was always that excitable.

Suki looked up at the beast. "I don't see him," she said.

"Who?" Ty Lee asked. She could already see Sokka, that lovely boy she 'danced' with a few months ago. A girl, dressed similarly and sharing his eyes, came down after him. Oh, drat. He'd picked himself up a girlfriend. She scrutinized him a bit closer, and realized her mistake. Their auras were too similar. They had to be blood related. Sister? "I recognize him. Isn't he who you were expecting?"

"I saw Appa, I expected the Avatar," Suki said.

"Where's Aangy?" a young girl asked. She stamped her foot in annoyance as it became obvious that these two were the only ones here. Disappointed murmurs swept through the crowd. Dian pulled himself off the ground, wiped the foam from his mouth, and quietly slunk away.

"Aang couldn't come, Koko," Sokka's sister said gently. The crowd dispersed. Ty Lee didn't see why. There was still a massive magical bison thing standing here. Sokka took a step forward, and his eyes widened when he beheld Suki and Ty Lee.

"Care for another dance lesson?" Sokka asked, entirely too smug for his own good. Ty Lee grinned, then kicked him in the side of the ankle, dropping him to the ground. She then gave her most innocent smile to the Tribesman's sister as she gave a look which went first to surprise, then annoyance, before she began to scan the departing crowd. "Alright. I probably deserved that."

Suki chuckled as she lifted him back onto his feet. "You definitely did. It's been a while, hasn't it," she paused. "What is that ridiculous thing on your head?"

"It's my hat! It's detective-y. I use it to detect things," Sokka said, sounding a bit defensive.

"Elder Oyaji," Sokka's sister said. "Aang is in jail. The town of Chin thinks he murdered their founder in a past life."

Suki's eyes averted for a moment, and she breathed a heavy breath. She turned toward her dojo and blew three short, shrill whistles.

"They say it was Kyoshi," Sokka said, playing with a Fire Nation dragon-pipe. Where in Agni's name did he get his hands on one of those in the Earth Kingdoms?

Oyaji shook his head, sending his mass of grey hair swaying. "That's crazy-talk. Suki, show them to her shrine. Perhaps something there would help you clear her name," he said.

"Sokka, Katara," Suki beckoned. "This way."

"So," Ty Lee said, falling in with them. "What happened to that thing you always carry around with you?"

"It'll come back, okay! It always comes back!" Sokka shouted.

"Easy there, pony-tail boy," Katara soothed sarcastically. Sokka seethed but bit his tongue. Suki led them all to her dojo, but then past it, down a path which wound into the woods. The girl frowned. "Where are you taking us?"

"My sister's house," Suki said. "She was the Hand of the Avatar for more than a decade after our mother died. That meant it was her duty to safeguard and oversee her ancestor's relics. Zhuang went out with a handful of her elite warriors several years ago, trying to see if they could bring down some of the higher-ranking leadership of the Fire Nation. She hasn't been heard from since. We've had to assume the worst. Which left me as Hand of the Avatar, the last descendant of Kyoshi."

"You're descended from Kyoshi?" Katara asked.

"Of course. Avatars aren't expected to be celibate. She was already a mother when she founded this island. Why else would she take so extreme a stance to protect a piece of land?" Suki paused a moment as the path opened up into a clearing. In the clearing was a small house, and smoke curled up from the chimney. She knocked on the door. A young man, probably a year or two younger than Sokka, opened the door. "Yi, may I come in?"

"Of course, Aunt Suki," the boy said, waving them in. "Who are these?"

"Friends of the Avatar," she paused. "And Ty Lee."

Ty Lee frowned at that. She was an afterthought! Still, she was allowed in to a place she'd never even known existed. Which was a bit shameful, considering she'd been all over this island. Inside was the boy, and and two even younger girls. "Who are these children?" she asked.

"These are my nieces and nephew. Zhuang's children," Suki said.

"Why isn't their father here?" Katara asked, an odd edge in her voice.

"He went with her. Like I said, we haven't heard from them."

"They'll come back," Yi said with a certainty only youth could bestow. "They'll come back one day, you'll see."

"I'm sure they will," Suki said with a smile. False smile. Ty Lee could always tell. Her aura didn't match her face.

"Who's raising these children?" Katara asked. There was definitely something unsettled in her about that. Suki cast her a look.

"My father. He works out in the Koi boats, fishing and slaughtering. Your people do the same with whales, I hear," She moved past Katara and swept aside a curtain. Suki nodded toward the back room.

"This altar was converted into a shrine for Kyoshi after she died," Suki said, pulling open a door into a darkened room. "Some say these relics are still connected to her spirit," Suki pointed to one side. "That was her robe."

"She had exquisite taste," Katara said, running her hand along its silks.

"Don't touch that!" Suki chastised. "It's almost four hundred years old!"

"Sorry," she said, with a contrite expression.

"These fans, they were her weapons, no?" Sokka asked, messing around with Kyoshi's weaponry.

"Also refrain from touching the fans," Suki said. Ty Lee giggled, but then she moved to another corner of the room.

"These were her boots?" Ty Lee asked. "Her feet must have been HUGE!"

"Largest of any Avatar for whom a visual representation still exists," Suki stood beside the footwear. "See a resemblance?"

Sokka stroked an imaginary beard for a long moment, like something hadn't quite fallen into place, but was dangerously close.

"Wait a minute," Katara said. "Big feet, little footprints... There's no way...!"

"Ahem," Sokka said, looking downright sour, the pipe hanging from his mouth. "Special outfit? Hat and pipe? These mean anything to you?"

"You're right. I'm sorry, please," Katara said in the most condescending way imaginable.

"Aaa-HA! There's no way Kyoshi could have made that footprint. It was smaller than mine! Therefore, there is nothing linking her to the crime-scene."

"Brilliant, Sokka," Katara said, rolling her eyes.

"Wow. That's neat. What footprints?" Ty Lee asked. But they had already turned to shine a light on a mural painted on the back wall of the shrine. Something wilted inside Ty Lee.

"This painting was to depict the sunrise that Kyoshi founded the island. They call it 'The Birth of Kyoshi'. It was today, actually. Around three hundred and seventy years ago."

"Three hundred seventy years... Are you sure it was today?" Sokka asked.

"Seeing how it's Kyoshi Day, yes."

Sokka scrutinized the map again. "This ceremony didn't take place at sunrise. It took place at sunset. There's no sun. The path leading to this house, and the sea beyond, is almost a straight line to the east."

"Are you certain of that, mister instincts?" Katara asked.

"I know east," Sokka said defensively. "And besides. Where are the shadows? If it were morning, even if the sun was high enough, there'd still be shadows down the front of the building."

"And what does that mean?" Suki asked. Ty Lee heard an odd tone in her voice. Suki wasn't really asking. She already knew the answer. Katara opened her mouth to answer, but Sokka cut her off with a hip check away from the mural.

"If Kyoshi was in the ceremony at sunset, she couldn't have been in Chin committing the crime," Sokka made a dramatic swing of the pipe, "She has an alibi."

Katara, no doubt fed up with his constant interruptions, snatched the pipe and brained Sokka with it. Suki nodded, her expression resolute. "Then we should head for Chin immediately. Go on, I'll be with you, shortly."

The group filed out of the house, pausing long enough for Suki to say goodbye to her sister's children, ostensibly. She didn't say a word as she led them back to the town square. "So," Ty Lee said. "You know the Avatar, do you?"

Sokka got a proud look. "Of course. I was the one who dug him out of his iceburg."

"No you weren't!" Katara said, quite annoyed. "I did. All you did was complain and act paranoid, and claim every five seconds that he was some sort of Fire Nation trap."

"Well, he did bring the Fire Nation to our village," Sokka said, defensively.

"That wasn't his... well, actually, it kinda was his fault," Katara admitted. "But it was an accident. And besides. Everything worked out. Now I get to find a Waterbending master, you get to... eat strange and foreign meats, and Aang gets to... oh, I don't know... _SAVE THE WORLD!_"

Ty Lee raised an eyebrow. "Why would the Fire Nation want the Avatar so bad? Isn't he a good guy? Like, the universe putting all its goodness into one guy, guy?"

Katara stopped walking for a moment. "Because once that summer ends, and the Comet arrives, Aang will be the only hope the world has of stopping the Fire Lord. The only hope."

Ty Lee didn't like the sound of that. She understood why Sozin attacked the Airbenders. They were readying to attack the capitol from their base in the Western Air Temple, to bring the Fire Nation to its knees. They would have decapitated the strongest force for the advancement of the nation's people, and sent the nation back a thousand years into starvation and poverty. But the Avatar wasn't just an airbender, or an Air Nomad. He was... well... the Avatar. It just didn't make sense.

"What's going on, here?" Sokka asked as the group reached the square. The entire cadre of Kyoshi Warriors was waiting for them.

"How many can Appa carry?" Suki asked. Katara glanced around.

"I don't know. Appa's strong, but I don't think even a Sky Bison could carry that many people. Why?"

"You're going to Chin. They don't like people from Kyoshi, people who consort with people from Kyoshi, people who sound like people from Kyoshi, the list goes on. I don't intend to go there defenseless."

"Who said you're going?" Sokka asked, trying to loom. Suki just stood in front of him, and let it be known that one cannot loom over somebody taller than oneself. He backed down.

"Are you going to stop me? He is the Avatar. This is part of my duty."

"Five. Maybe six," Katara said.

"Katara!"

"Maybe I don't like the idea of losing Aang because of his own high-mindedness? Maybe I don't want to be powerless for a change? If they want to come, let them," Katara said. "Everybody who's coming, get aboard, and hold on."

Suki pointed out five of her warriors. Ty Lee recognized them all. They were not all of her best students, but each had a very different array of skills and abilities, outside that of fighting. Ty Lee understood. These girls... these warriors, they weren't planning to come back.

"Do you want to come?" Sokka asked.

"Are we just inviting everybody, now?" Katara asked as she mounted the thing's head.

"She's a great fighter!" Sokka complained. "She'd be useful!"

"I think you just have a crush," Katara said without turning back. Sokka blushed, but didn't turn away.

"I get to ride on a huge, fuzzy, flying thing?" Ty Lee asked, her face lit up as bright as it would ever get. She let out a loud cry of joy, then leaped onto its back in a single bound, sitting lightly on the horn of the saddle.

"I'll take that as a 'yes, I'd love to come'," Sokka said, scrambling up after them. Appa let out a groan, but he didn't seem too inconvenienced by the weight of seven women more than usual. Katara looked briefly back at Ty Lee.

"You might want to hold on a bit tighter," she said.

"Why?"

"Yip yip," she said, and Appa bounded into the sky, rising far higher than any leap should have allowed. All of the Kyoshi Warriors, except Suki, let out a cry of alarm and clutched hard to their spot on the saddle. Even Suki looked a little unsettled by the liftoff. Ty Lee didn't budge one single cun. She laughed as Appa bore them skyward, and as the wind raced by her head. She experienced a joy of flight, like no Fire Nation noble in this age ever had before. As no Fire Nation noble in this age would likely ever again.


	5. A Child's Duty

**Still not happy with Mai. Have to live with it, though.**

* * *

"Where is she?" Mai asked. The firebenders, off duty and unarmored, looked up at her.

"Who, mistress?" the captain asked as she carved up the roast boarcupine.

"The Princess of the Fire Nation, who do you think?" Mai asked. The captain just rolled her eyes and shrugged.

"Your mother is in her rooms. Why?"

Mai narrowed her eyes a bit. "You don't need to know. Remember your place."

"Whatever you say, _mistress_," the firebender said. "Just remember the only reason _you_ have a place here is because _we_ earned it."

Mai considered saying something else, but then decided it was distinctly not worth the effort. The firebender was right. This place was only part of the Fire Nation because they had invaded it. Mai's family owed their 'prestigious appointment' to the endeavors of the army. That, and Omashu having an insane old lemur as a king. Mai just turned and walked away, toward her parents' chambers.

Omashu had come a long way in recent months. While there was still overwhelming green and yellow, within the palace at least, there was a more proper red. The entire site had been retrofitted to be a proper Fire Nation noble house. Still, it was an island of civilization amidst a sea of anarchy. She walked down the halls, watching as local cleaning ladies went about their business. Something seemed out of place. She kept an eye on the maids as she walked past. As she did, one of them stepped directly behind her.

She didn't need to be told what to do. Her mother had trained her well. She knew that the mop had a lead core, something to bludgeon. A twist of Mai's long back had it slide down her spine instead of crashing against her skull. A flick of her heel sent the bludgeon into the ankle of another reading a sack for Mai's head. Kidnappers? Fools. They obviously didn't know better than to try to kidnap an Azuli woman. One went down with a broken ankle, and the other maid, sensing that she'd lost initiative, did a wise thing and bolted away. Mai didn't feel like letting a potential kidnapper escape, so she calmly pulled a long knife out of her sleeve and threw it hard at the escaping woman. It slammed into the back of her leg, sending her to the floor with a cry of pain. Mai put her arms back into her sleeves and continued walking.

It wasn't very long before the firebenders in the garrison came running, spotting her calmly walking away. "Mistress, are you alright?" one asked.

Mai looked back at them, "Perfectly. Arrest these insurgents. Put them in the prison."

The firebenders looked amongst themselves. "Uhhh, ma'am, there is no prison here. There's just a few chambers with secure locks. One of them looks like it was recently refurbished."

"Just put them in a room and designate that the prison. Must this family micromanage everything that happens in Omashu?" Mai asked, annoyance only creeping into her voice in light tones. "And make sure I get that knife back. It's part of a set."

She left the soldiers to do their duty while she turned the corner and entered the network of chambers which her parents had appropriated. These kidnappers had come dangerously close to reaching targets of real value. But they hadn't, and that was all that mattered. Still, she would have to punish some of the guards. Things were getting perilously lax. Mai knocked on her mother's door. The door was unlocked, so she entered. On a table near the bath chamber were all of Mother's weapons. Mai tweezed her brow. "Agni's burning blood," she muttered. "What is she doing now?"

Readying herself for one of two unpleasant sights, Mai opened the baths door and was greeted with by far the lesser. Her mother was supine in a large, brass tub, and Ruo, the oldest and most trusted firebender that was pledged to the house was with her. Ruo was an old, hard bitten veteran, grey haired and childless. And now, this once prestigious soldier was relegated to warming her liege's bathwater. It could have been a worse sight to behold. Mai sat on the low bench that ran along the wall, opposite Ruo.

"There are insurgents in the palace," Mai said flatly. Ruo raised one scarred brow.

"I assume they didn't get very far?" Mother asked.

"Not this time," Mai said.

"Ruo would have kept me safe," Mother said with utter confidence. The old woman gave a single nod, then leaned back, giving another gout of flame to the walls of the tub. Her fire was an unusual sort; where most firebender's issue was red or yellow, hers was a green closing on blue. She had been doing this longer than her parents had been alive, though.

"Why exactly did you call on me? And why isn't there a knife in here?" Mai asked. There were only three reasons why an Azuli woman should _ever_ disarm herself. The first was during childbirth, so she wouldn't stab somebody important. The second was bathing, so that the water wouldn't dull the blades. The third was... something Mai really didn't want to think about her parents doing.

"You know why I don't have a knife," Mother said calmly. "And I called you here because I'm hearing some unsettling things in Chin. A cultural uprising. They're celebrating something called 'Avatar Day', and the Fire Lord has let it be known that he does not approve. You've been expressing your desire to leave Omashu, so I considered you for the task."

"Reconnaissance? Really?" Mai asked. Mother waved dismissively.

"Oh, no. We've already dispatched a brigade of rhinos from Whale Tail. You will be finding whoever started this little uprising and removing them from leadership, however you deem necessary."

Mai leaned to one side. "Let me guess. Father already promised that he would deal with this revolt?"

Mother smiled. "And he will not disappoint."

Mai tsked. "Fine. I'll leave as soon as I have some provisions."

"Dealt with. They are waiting at the Fourth Iron Gate," Mai sighed. Of course Mother would have this already planned out. She rose. "Do try to be swift about this. The rhinos will likely be attacking as we speak, and I do not wish their leader to have too much time to go to ground."

"Please, like anybody could hide from me," Mai said. "I'll be back when I'm finished."

Mai turned and left her bathing mother to the indelicate but effective ministrations of Ruo. Finally, a reason to leave this unbearably dull place. Due to the compacted nature of the palace, Mai's proper rooms were not nearly as far away from her parents' as she'd have liked. It made it that much briefer for her to flatten out a parchment and finish the reply she had been carefully composing.

"_I was surprised to hear from you, after all this time. I was beginning to believe that somebody had assassinated you. But who would have the audacity, the gall, and moreover the luck and skill required to do that? It is good to hear from old friends. Especially in this trying time. The Avatar is the word on everybody's lips. The insurgency in Omashu seems to consider him some sort of rallying point. If he could be disposed of, it'd make my father's work easier, if a great deal more boring. As if Omashu could get any more boring. It is probably safe to assume that your cloister was at your father's behest, and finally at an end. It would be" _Mai had hesitated a long time trying to find the proper word, here, "_pleasant to see you again, even if I understand completely that you would never come to a place like Omashu. Still, I will have you in my thoughts, and I will await your word as command, if the time should come. It would be like old times, Princess Azula._"

Mai considered sending the message as was, but she second guessed herself. Chin was not exactly close, and a reply would need a proper hawk, not just the half-blind local variety, if it was going to reach her. She flipped the paper and added a post-script. "_Please be aware that I am not in Omashu at this time. The Fire Nation demands my presence elsewhere._" Mai nodded, then tubed the message and began to stride silently toward the gates. Along the way, she handed the tube to an aide.

"See that this gets sent to Sozin City when I leave," Mai said.

"You are leaving, mistress?" the aide said, scratching his patchy, only-somewhat Fire Nation beard. "Where shall you be going?"

"Some place even less civilized than this."


	6. The Annexation of Chin

**Now, I like this chapter. I even feel good about my Ty Lee in it. **

**I also promised some culture clash. Sadly, there was only so much that I could showcase without it getting either tiring or gross. But just do the math, if you would? Twenty soldiers, twenty spouses, a dozen kids, a handful of elderly, in a village with about twelve buildings, each probably consisting of one room. Try to find some privacy.**

**Lastly, I'm quite amused with everybody's favorite bit of canon discontinuity.**

* * *

"Are you sure its safe for her to be doing that?" Suki asked from her place in the saddle. Ty Lee didn't pay attention, instead pressed herself into the soft, white fur of Appa's rump as it slowly, almost lazily paddled the air. At first, flight had been exciting and exhilarating, but it quickly became peaceful and tranquil. Even with the wind, she still felt utterly confident to hold onto fur and move with the beast.

"Not really," Sokka said. He turned to his sister. "Remind me never, ever, to ride Appa bareback."

"If the situation arises, I'll try to remember to tell you," the waterbender said, looking ahead. Ty Lee finally got off the haunch of the ten ton flying magical bison and hopped back up into the saddle, putting a headlock hold onto two of the Warriors.

"So, why are the girls coming along?" she asked.

"I already told you," Suki said.

"Yeah, but... why would you bring them to Chin? That's, like, if a Chin the Great impersonator... impersonated Chin the Great in your house. They won't be happy to see the Kyoshi Warriors."

"Easily dealt with," Suki said. A smile came to her lips. "We won't be seen."

"We are masters of camouflage, misdirection, and stealth," Zhen pointed out.

"Oh, please. You couldn't sneak back stage at a second-rate play," another laughed.

"Girls?" Suki said. She turned to Sokka. "Would you mind taking the reins. I need to get changed.

"Hmm?" Sokka said, playing with a piece of wood he was whittling into a bent shape. Ty Lee couldn't see the point of it, it just looked like a block of wood. The girls from Kyoshi stared at him, and he just frowned. "What is it? What's the problem?"

"Do you really think I intend to get naked in front of a pubescent boy?" Suki asked pointedly. Sokka just didn't get the point. Not scandalized, or embarrased, he just sat there, a little confused.

"Why not?" he asked. "It won't be the first time I've seen a grown woman naked."

Suki shared a glance with Ty Lee, but she didn't see the scandal in it either. She got no sympathy there. It wasn't until Katara spoke up that the stand off was broken.

"Cut him a break, Suki," Katara said. "We're from the Southern Water Tribe. Ever since the waterbenders were killed off, we've had to house more and more people in smaller and smaller homes. _NOTHING_ was private. Sokka, come here and take the reins."

Sokka rolled his eyes and replaced his sister, all the while muttering, "I just don't see what the big deal is."

As he got into a position where he could preserve Suki's decency – an hilarious notion, considering they were all warriors – Suki began to shrug out of her clothing and pulled out a robe of fine and ancient green and yellow silks. Ty Lee's eyes widened, but Katara spoke first.

"Wait, aren't those Kyoshi's robes?" Katara asked.

"They were. And since Zhuang isn't here, that means they belong to me. When I said that there is a spiritual bond between these relics and Kyoshi, I was not spouting mysticism," she affixed the headress in place, and pulled on a set of armor which was just a hair too big for her. "I have a blood link to Kyoshi, and these objects contain traces of her spirit. We were told never to utilize them without dire need. I believe the life and security of the Avatar qualifies."

"I do believe in the power of stuff," Sokka said from Appa's head.

"Thank you, young skeptic," Suki said. She turned to Ty Lee. "Was I ever that young?"

"Maybe about ten years ago," Ty Lee helpfully offered. Suki just chuckled and folded the war fans into their place.

"This is something very old, I'm told. Magic from ages that have fallen into myth."

"It's not magic. It's just a form of bending," Katara said.

"This is not bending. It does not utilize any force on this Earth," Kyoshi said. "This is something of the spirits. Something far older than bending itself. Fire- and waterbending are each a few tens of thousands years old, and they are the oldest styles. This predates them. It uses blood to form the bridge from the spirit world to the physical."

"So, it's kinda like... bloodbending?" Katara asked.

"Don't be ridic... There's no such thing as bloodbending," Suki said. "Just trust that if the time comes, I will be ready."

Ty Lee looked ahead. "I think I see Chin!" she declared.

"Good. Take us low over the city, as slow as you can. Girls, join the shadows. Show them that the Dai Li hold no monopoly on the unseen," Suki said. One by one, the girls jumped off of Appa's back, and vanished from the rooftops into the town. Finally, only Suki, the siblings, and Ty Lee remained. Suki turned to Ty Lee. "Now you stay out of trouble. This isn't your problem."

"Why not?" she asked.

Suki just shook her head and leaned to Sokka. "Take Appa beyond that shrine, like you did with the others. I'll wait for the proper moment."

The siblings brought the beast for a landing, and in a blink, Suki wasn't there anymore. The sky bison settled gently onto the stone promenade. A man with a ridiculous hat began to move forward. He was liver-spotted and had greasy hair. She focused on him a moment and beheld an weak aura. This was a man who compromised too often, and of the wrong things.

Katara once again cut off her brother. "Honorable mayor, we have prepared a solid defense for the Avatar. We did an investigation, and found some very strong evidence."

"Evidence?" the mayor scoffed derisively. Suddenly, Ty Lee didn't like this person. "That's not how our court system works."

"Then how can we prove Aang's innocence?" Sokka asked.

"Simple. I say what happened, then you say what happened, then I decide who's right," he said. Everybody stared at him, utterly gobsmacked. "That's why we call it 'justice'. Because it's 'just us'," and then he walked away, cackling in a way that made Ty Lee angry enough to punch him in the spine. Not to paralyze or negate his combat abilities; he just needed a good spine punching. Ty Lee wasn't used to being that angry at people. She was starting to see why people called these Earth Kingdom people savages. At least the Fire Nation had a fair court of law.

"What are we going to do?" Sokka asked, still stunned at how hopeless the situation seemed.

"Tell Aang about this. Then, we're going to find some way to prove him innocent. Despite everything, there's got to be a way," she said. Katara looked like a thunderhead of determination. Ty Lee pitied anybody dumb enough to get in the way of anything that waterbender wanted.

"What can I do?" Ty Lee asked.

"What? You're still here?" Katara asked. She made a dismissive wave. "Watch over Appa. Everything needs company."

Ty Lee sat down on one of Appa's feet and pouted. Just like back home, everybody was ignoring her. Only this time, she was all alone. She didn't have the justification that there were six others just like her to hog up the attention. Maybe she was just somebody who didn't deserve attention. As Sokka was walking away, he quickly turned around, and gave a shrug. For some reason, that brightened her up a bit.

She turned to Appa, who made a grunting sound. "What's wrong, big fella? Are you hungry?"

Appa let out a low bellow. She reached into her pocket and pulled out some rice from her bagged lunch. She held up up for it, and Appa's huge tongue swept it away, almost knocking her over in the process. Then, Appa coughed a few times, and spat out the rice.

"That's alright. It's sort of an acquired taste," Ty Lee said, before giving Appa's head a hug. He was very huggable. Time passed, with her forgotten except for a massive magical beast. Appa let out another groan, then rolled over onto its back, its six legs flopping down lazily. "You know, that looks comfortable," Ty Lee said, and she sprawled herself similarly on one of Appa's massive paws.

The clouds had scudded past and the sky started to turn a bit red by the time people began to file in. The landing place, the widest venue in the town, was an amphitheater which faced a precipice, with only that shrine between them and the edge of a very long drop. The people came, and the seats, cut into naked rock, filled almost completely. Finally, the unpleasant mayor returned, and with him, a bailiff escorting a pilloried boy. With a shaved head and the distinctive tattoos of an airbender, the blue arrow reaching over the crown of the head and pointing down to the bridge of the nose. Ty Lee sat bolt upright.

"Move this thing from the stadium at once!" the mayor demanded shrilly. Ty Lee rolled her eyes and patted Appa on the side of the head.

"Come on, big fella. We've got to make some space."

As Appa lazily made his way to edge, and then calmly walked off of it, Ty Lee took a seat beside the siblings. Sokka gave her a smile when she sat down, but Katara's eyes were locked on the boy. He didn't look very Avatar-y. Ty Lee focused on him for a moment, seeing if she could get a sense of his aura.

It almost made her throw up. She learned how to see auras as an unintended side-effect of Piandao's tutelage; all she had to do was focus on seeing the chi flowing through somebody else, and she could usually see the inherent color, clarity, and form of that chi. In essence, she could see their aura. And each person had, with a few notable exceptions, one color, pattern, and opaqueness pretty much forever, with only some changes for mood. Then there was the Avatar. He was every color. He was every pattern. He was transparently solid. There were no words to describe it and do it justice. She shut her eyes and tried very hard not to look that deep again.

"So, what's the plan?" Ty Lee asked.

"We try to give an argument that even he can't ignore," Katara said.

"And what about the... you know?"

"Haven't seen them," Sokka glanced into the distance for a moment. "But that's probably the whole point, right?"

"Gentlemen, the trial of the Avatar begins, anon," the mayor said. "Everyone loved Chin the Great, because he was so... great."

"He obviously wasn't chosen for stellar public speaking," Sokka muttered.

"Then, the Avatar showed up, and killed him," the mayor said with a flourish, then he folded his arms back into his sleeves. "And that's how it happened."

There was a brief silence, punctuated only by somebody in the audience coughing. "That's it?" Ty Lee asked.

"The accused will now present his case," the bailiff said before walking to one side.

"You can do this, Aang. Just remember the evidence," Sokka stage-whispered.

"Right, evidence," the Avatar said. He looked nervous for a moment, then did a flourish of his own in his stocks. Come to think of it, why did they even put those things on him? They were sized for a man twice as big as the Avatar, and hung off of him like a bad fashion statement. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm about to tell you what really happened, and I'll prove it all... with FACTS! Fact number one... umm..."

Obviously the Avatar wasn't chosen on stellar public speaking, either. Sokka leaned forward and whispered loudly again, this time in a language Ty Lee couldn't understand. The Avatar must have, though, because he perked back up.

"Oh, yeah. You see, I have very big... feet," he said, pointing down to his own dainty shoes. There was another pause. "Furthermore, your temple matches your statue. But... I was in a painting... at sunset," he glanced around. Even Ty Lee could tell he was sweating. "So there you have it. I'm not guilty!"

"Oh, this is not going well," Ty Lee said.

"Yeah, he's dead," Sokka said, even as he gave a hopeful gesture to the Avatar.

"Any ideas?"

"One, but it's kinda crazy," Katara said. "As in, its Sokka crazy."

"Oooh. I like those plans," Sokka said. "You're telling them."

"It was your idea."

"Remember the last time I tried to explain something to a group of people? They ended up lost four days in a blizzard, close enough to where we started to spit and hit the walls," Sokka shook his head. "Just save the Avatar, would 'ya?"

Katara shot up. "Mayor Tong, we have one more witness to this crime. We would like the audience to hear this testimony."

Tong threw up his liver-spotted hands. "I've already told you! It's just me, and the accused. You can't call any witnesses!"

"This isn't just any witness. I'm calling Avatar Kyoshi herself," she said. She then turned to Aang and said something in that language Ty Lee didn't speak. The Avatar nodded, then something strange happened. A great wind swept up from the prairie and drove all of the dust down into the peninsula. Visibility became almost nothing, and then, a great cyclone rose from where the Avatar stood. It whirled and raged for a long moment, then dissipated in a thunder crack. Standing where the Avatar once stood, was Kyoshi.

Ty Lee knew it wasn't Kyoshi. It couldn't be. It was just Suki wearing her ancestor's clothes and war-paint. But there was something strange about Suki. She didn't hold herself like a Kyoshi Warrior. She held herself... like a force of nature. Her eyes, normally a dark, muddy grey not unlike Ty Lee's own, now seemed to glow with an otherworldly fire. Blood dripped from her hands onto the cut stone; when it landed, it sizzled and smoked. And when she spoke, it reverberated in her skull like two voices, so similar, but so different, speaking in the exact same moment.

"I am Avatar Kyoshi," Suki said. Or perhaps it really was Kyoshi. "I killed Chin the Conqueror."

"Well, so much for that plan," Katara said.

"I slew a horrible tyrant. Chin was expanding his empire to all corners of the continent. He drove every culture into subservience to his, every peoples slaves for his empire. He swept across the whole of the East Continent like a plague. When he came to the neck of the peninsula where we lived, he demanded our immediate surrender. But I knew the truth. Even as before the words ceased echoing in the air, he would have destroyed our people, if not with the knife, then with the cold, grinding pressure of generations of slavery. I warned him that I would not sit passively as he destroyed my people."

That strange Kyoshi/Suki gestalt made one threatening stomp forward, causing Tong to flee squeeling like a flying bore with its rump on fire. "But he did not back down," Kyoshi/Suki said. "He readied his armies to destroy everything I cared for. I warned him. He didn't listen. On that day, we split from the mainland. He claimed that he would conquer every cun of ground that touched the Great Stone. So, I removed myself from it. I considered it the kindest gesture I could make. He did not see it that way. He was an earthbender. He tried to resist me. As I altered the face of this Earth, he stood against me. And when his stubborn pride spelled his demise in the boiling waters below, it was his folly which brought him there. He chose to die, but I chose to destroy him," Kyoshi/Suki staggered a little as she made another stomping stride. "I created Kyoshi Island so my people would have a place safe from invaders..."

Whatever she had to say after that was cut off as she fell to one knee. The whirlwind rose up again, enveloping her once more. When it slowly split apart, Aang was back where she had been standing, holding his stocks in one hand as though he had just not quite had enough time to get back into them.

"So..." Ty Lee asked. "What just happened?"

"Kyoshi kinda... confessed," Sokka said, obviously as in the dark about what Kyoshi was going to say as she was. Tong moved forward again.

"The Avatar has confessed to the crime!" Tong shouted. The people began to mill loudly, and he was about to launch into another spiel, but he was forestalled as he looked at the ground behind Aang. Ty Lee stood, and saw what he was looking at: the blood Suki left. It still sat on the ground, and a trail lead to shrine. "What trickery is this?" he demanded.

"It's... Avatar Magic!" Aang protested.

"It doesn't matter. You have admitted you slew Chin the Great. You are culpable for everything which came after. Bring forth the Wheel of Punishment!"

There was a shocked gasp, and the bailiff slowly moved to Tong's side. "Uh, the wheel's broken."

"How could it be broken?"

"Wheels break, sometimes."

Tong huffed, then turned to Aang. "Very well, as the mayor of this town, prelate of its archives, and steward of the Jade Throne, I pronounce you guilty, and that you will be sent to death, by boiling oil!"

"Okay, this is getting out of hand," Ty Lee said, waving her hands. "You can't kill the Avatar!"

Sokka and Katara said something rapidly in their native tongue, then both rose. Katara reached to her side, where she kept a water skin. Ty Lee looked around, trying to see where the attack would come from. Instead, she was surprised by an explosion somewhere in the distance, where the gates would have been. The crowd recoiled as one, and the soldiers overlooking the proceedings turned. She felt a rumbling in the ground. Grunting calls tore through the air. Ty Lee remembered that sound, an animal native only to the Fire Nation. Rhinos. And by the sounds of it, a lot of them.

"What's going on?" Sokka asked.

"I think we're under attack," Ty Lee answered, turning to face the pathway that ran down the arena. In less than a minute, the first of the rhinos crested the decline and made its rampaging way down the path as the locals dived out of the way. It came to a halt in front of Tong, and a man stared down at him. He was huge, his head mostly shaved. Hoop earrings adorned not just his ears but his nose, and he carried no weapon. She didn't even need to check to know he was a firebender.

"We've come to claim this town in the name of the Fire Lord. Now, show us your leader, so I may," he turned away from Tong to the statue of Chin which stood behind him. A flick of his fingers emitted a narrow, greenish flame, which cut through the marble statue like a sword through paper. The statue toppled and shattered against the arena ground, "dethrone him."

The guards glanced amongst themselves, then all of them answered in a ragged chorus, "That's him. Mayor Tong. Right there."

Tong let out a squeak, and tried to hide behind the Avatar. "You! Avatar! DO SOMETHING!"

Aang smirked. "I would love to help, but I'm supposed to get boiled in oil."

"I'll drop the charges! Please, just help us!"

Explosions and gouts of flames rose up from the town. The people huddled together in the stands, having nowhere else to go except over the very cliffs which killed Chin four centuries ago. Aang gave a measured glance, then turned to Tong, "So, Kyoshi was not guilty?"

"Completely innocent!"

Aang smiled. "Good. Suki!"

Suki stepped out of the forest of columns of the temple, flicking open her fans with red-bandaged hands. She moved forward as the two rhinos who had held position at the top of the arena reared up and fled, their riders mysteriously vanished. A flash of green brought a smile to Ty Lee's face. The Kyoshi Warriors had joined the fight. And so had Aang. He leapt forward with a wide sweep of wind slamming the rider off of his mount and sending him toward the cliff face. The firebender sent an explosion of flames behind him, checking his momentum and dropping him onto the very edge. He started to grin an insane grin. He reached up and let a massively tall stream of fire shoot straight up. "You've just killed this town, Avatar," he said.

"Get these people to safety," Aang ordered, as he went into battle with the master firebender in the grounds of the arena. Suki nodded and ran forward, gathering Ty Lee and the siblings together.

"We push these people up the neck, back through the walls. Then, my girls will deal with the rhinos."

Ty Lee's eyes bugged at that. "But there's, like, fifty of those things back there! You'd be outnumbered eight to one!"

"Eight to one, eh?" Suki said, a mischievous look on her face. It was very strange, and an expression she didn't use often. "I guess I'll tell Zhen to sit this one out, so it'll be a fair fight. Now let's move!"

Suki moved forward, driving the civilians forward and away from the airbender and his opponent. The crowd was like koala sheep; easily driven and easily directed. And Suki must not have been joking, because by the time they reached the rear walls of Chin, they came across three more riderless rhinos. The town would be a problem. It was the rhino's ideal terrain; cluttered, close, and full of things the soldiers didn't mind destroying. The crowd dissolved quickly, leaving the outsiders to face the threat. Ty Lee suddenly felt more than a little stupid.

A meteor hammer shot past Ty Lee, trying to bind her waist. Luckily, in the time that it took to whip back around, she had already contorted herself out of its coil. It recoiled and lashed out again, coiling Sokka against a support timber. Katara shouted something, and made a broad gesture. The water burst forth from her waterskin... and splattered onto the floor. The soldier smirked, an pulled out a crossbow, firing a shot at the helpless Tribesman. Suki flashed into the way, deflecting it with her fans.

"Katara! Focus!" Suki shouted. Katara might not have even heard it, though, because she was already fixated on the water. A turn of her wrists brought the water back up again, wrapping the chain in undulating water, then wrenching and tearing it apart. Sokka shrugged his way out of the sundered chain, and ran, grabbing Ty Lee's arm as he did, "Come on! You've got to get somewhere safe!"

"Excuse me?" Ty Lee asked as she easily pulled away from his grasp. Katara, still holding the chain, bound the rider in them and used her bending to cut him off of his saddle and leave him bound and helpless on the ground. "I'm still useful!"

"Can you do that fist-y thing when they're wearing armor?" Sokka asked.

"I'm... not sure."

"Then you'd be most useful getting people out of the city," Sokka said. "It's a big job, but I'm sure you can handle it. Run. Now!"

Ty Lee looked at Sokka for a moment, before grabbing his wide ears and planting a big kiss on him. He looked shocked for a moment. "Thanks for believing in me," she said. Then, she ran off, toward the burning buildings, on a mission to defeat her own nation. There was something fundamentally absurd about that, but she couldn't take the time to parse it out. People needed help.

She was a flash in pale blue as she ran through the streets, when they took her where she wanted them to. And she was a flash on the rooftops, when they did not. Her path took her across unmounted, shackled soldiers, the subtle and invisible work of the Kyoshi Warriors. One, though was still going strong. He hurled small bombs about, calmly walking away as they burst and tore down buildings. Ty Lee felt a sting of shame. He was potentially killing innocent people! She leapt off of the roof, trying to deliver a paralyzing jab, but the strike ended painfully on the bombardier's armor. The bomber turned and struck Ty Lee to the street. She took a moment to clear the stars from her eyes, and when she did, there was a hissing sound next to her.

Her eyes widened as she saw the bomb. Acting fast enough to make an Azuli assassin blink, she grabbed and hurled the bomb at its source, and it detonated half way there. Still, close enough to spook the rhino and send the rider out of his saddle. The rider was still on the ground for a moment, then slowly got to his well armored feet. Ty Lee looked around. In that much metal, she had no way to get at him. A rhino's grunt alerted her to another threat, and another rider raced around a corner, swinging at Ty Lee with a nodachi. She flipped backward, smacking the bare hands of this one, sending them into crippled numbness. When she landed, it was behind him in the saddle.

"_What in the Hell? Where is she?_" he shouted.

"_She's right behind you!_" the bombardier shouted. The voice was quite high, for a man. Or normal for a woman. Ty Lee didn't have time to deal with that, as she pulled up the armored skirt of the man's uniform and gave him two sharp jabs in his lower spine, then another one in the side of his neck. Boneless as pudding, he flopped out of the saddle.

"_Now what to do about you_," she said. She noticed something by her foot; a bag, filled with a bunch of unusual stuff. She looked back up and saw a chakram flying at her face, so she bent backwards and let her momentum carry her off the beast. She grabbed the bag as she fell. A grab inside located a weird, crooked piece of metal. She shrugged, then hurled it at the bombardier, who was readying another small bomb. It cut easily through the air, and spanged off the soldier's helmet, but did nothing more than make him flub lighting the bomb. Not good enough.

As Ty Lee dug through other things; a whale-tooth knife, a back-curved bone blade, both too deadly; a soapstone club, not much use against that completely armored fighter. She heard a cutting sound again, and that chunk of metal almost hit her in the head. She ducked, and it embedded into a wooden beam next to her. Huh. That seemed like just the thing. Slinging the bag over her shoulder, she ran forward, kicking a bomb thrown at her into a hay-stack, where it was a lot less destructive. A leap, dragging the gauntlet off the arm in the crook of the metal thing, exposing a vulnerable wrist. A jab neutralized it. Even before she was over the soldier's head, she had the thing hooked under the helmet, tearing it off. The soldier got to his feet, and turned, showing that he was a she.

A woman bombardier. It ought not have been surprising; when it came to explosives, men were keen, but women were cautious. And cautious tended to last longer. Ty Lee brandished the weapon, and the woman made a placating gesture. "_Just put the weapon down and this'll be a lot easier for both of us_."

Ty Lee shook her head. "_I don't think so. You're betraying the ideals you're fighting for_."

The bombardier was taken aback. "_Wait a minute. You speak_–" and she was cut off by Ty Lee hurling the crook at her again. It struck her in the head, knocking her back, before arcing up and toward Ty Lee. She snatched it out of the air. The bombardier was out on the ground, concussed but still breathing. Ty Lee experimentally threw the crook again, and once again, it boomeranged back to her.

"_Wow, that's kinda neat_," she said. Heads began to peek out of doorframes. Ty Lee glanced at them, and motioned wide. "Come on! It's not safe here!"

The people didn't need a lot of cajoling. She moved, the rhinos in the distance, and the crowd growing behind her. She moved slowly, steadily toward the gates, as the town of Chin burned. Finally, she arrived in a plaza. Suki dominated the scene. Four soldiers, two of them still mounted, were trying to pin her down, but she flowed through them like air around a lattice. And she struck like a stone from the heavens. One soldier tried to grab her arm, as though she were some dainty maiden. She disabused him by pulling him low and uppercutting him with her off-hand. She paused just long enough to give Ty Lee a thumbs up, before moving to engage the remaining three.

The Avatar leapt into the open area, a bound which did Ty Lee jealous. From another street, the waterbender ran in, waving a blob of water as big as she was. "Where is he?" she shouted. The answer came when two rhinos charged in after the Avatar. She swept her water out, wrapping the two beasts. A blast of air from the Avatar froze them in place, helpless. By the time that happened, Suki had already dismounted the last of her opponents, and gave the rhino a slap on the rump to send it running.

"The girls are keeping on the battalion's heels. They're in full retreat," Suki said. She paused, looking at Ty Lee. "I'm pretty sure Sokka' going to want those."

"I'm going to want what?" Sokka's voice came from Ty Lee's side. She turned, and gave a start, as she had to look up to see him. He was wearing a hilariously ill-fitting rhino-rider helmet and astride one of the beasts, back straight and proud like a man on parade. Suki burst into laughter at the sight.

"What is that on your head?" Suki asked.

"And why are you riding a rhino?" Aang added

"And how are you riding a rhino?" Katara finished.

"That's..." Sokka shrugged, "...kind of a long story."

Sokka hopped down, and the rhino, with no directions, began ambling away from the noise, through the gates. It would probably merrily munch on local grass and terrify local wildlife until some other Fire Nation force collected it. Sokka, not content to munch on grass or terrify animals, gaped at Ty Lee for a moment. "I know. I got hundreds of them out!"

"BOOMERANG!" he shouted, sweeping the weapon from her grasp. "You do always come back!" Ty Lee pouted for a moment, but only a moment, because Sokka pulled her into a platypus-bear-hug and spun her about. "I thought I'd lost all of this stuff! Oh, you don't know what this means to me."

"You're welcome, you're welcome... you're smothering me," she said. It wasn't true, but it got him to let go and turn to Suki with a goofy grin on his face.

"What's going on?"

"The riders are in full retreat," Suki explained. "To hear them say it, my girls outnumbered them ten to one. At least, that'll be the story they take back to leadership. The rest, they'll probably be imprisoned until the Fire Nation ransoms them back," she paused for a moment, an unreadable expression on her face. "Pity their leader got away. It would have been good to have somebody high-ranking to use as a bartering chip."

"So it's over?"

"All done but the crying," she said. She glanced at the sun. "And before sunset, even. I must say, I am impressed, gang."

"Do you think we should stick around for Tong to congratulate us?" Aang asked.

"Maybe if you live to see a century," Suki answered.

"Techincally, I am a hundred and thirteen years old," the Avatar pointed out. Suki rolled her eyes. Suiting action to his words, Tong came slinking out of the bedlam, his hat still smoldering and his robes of office filthy with soot and grime. Weird how those sorts of things seemed to happen when the Avatar was around.

"You've saved the town," Tong said, his voice joyous. "How can we ever repay you?"

"Stop burning statues of the Avatars, to start," Aang said. Suki brushed him aside, and loomed over Tong. He gulped.

"We were never here," she said. Tong glanced around. "The Avatar and his friends repulsed an attack by a battalion of rhinos. The Kyoshi Warriors have never stepped foot in Chin. Is that perfectly clear?"

"But... I don't understand," Tong stammered. Suki rolled her eyes, and said something which sounded like a profanity, but in a form of argot, Embiar Huojian. "Who would ask? And the people won't want to talk about being saved by our enemies."

"Good. Stress that. Because Chin has been out of the war until now because it was useless. No port, no mines, no worthwhile crops. But with this defeat, you're going to get a lot of attention. And if I hear you sent any of it to my home, then you're just going to not wake up one morning," Suki said.

"Hey, wait just one minute there..." the Avatar said.

"Fine! You weren't here! It was just the three teenagers."

"Four teenagers!" Ty Lee said. Again, they were ignoring her.

"Four teenagers. I won't say a word. I swear," Tong was sweating. Suki smiled.

"Good. If anybody presses, make something up," Tong ran away, leaving what remained of his dignity in the dirt of the gate plaza. she turned to the Avatar. "What?"

"You can't just go around threatening people," Aang said. "Fear is no way to control people."

"I'm not controlling them. In truth, I never intend to step foot in this town again. But he thinks I do, and that means I can do what I need to. Zhen!" she waited for a few seconds, and Zhen almost magically appeared in the conversation circle. Sokka let out a loud yelp and brandished his boomerang at her for a moment before he clued in. "You're heading home."

"What?" Zhen asked, the confusion clear on her face, because most of her paint had been rubbed off in the battle. "I thought you were going to..."

"Zhen, you're the most skilled and well-rounded fighter left. And, with me gone, you'll be the closest blood relative of Kyoshi on that island who is still old enough to carry a sword and fan. Keep the girls together. Keep my home safe." Zhen looked up at Suki for a long moment, then nodded. Suki then turned to Ty Lee. She almost began talking, but then had to clear her throat and try again. "You could come with me, you know? I could use somebody like you where I'm going."

"Where are you – what in the Hell is wrong with your spine?" Sokka asked, finally turning to Ty Lee. She just stared up at him, her chin balanced on her hands, her feet on the stone in front of her face. She moved her legs up for a moment.

"What? Is something wrong? Did my shirt split again?" she asked. It was a tragedy that these people didn't know how to make proper silk clothing, the kind that moves with one's body and doesn't bind or constrict. Instead, she had to make due with local stock. It finally occurred to Ty Lee that they might be referring to the fact that she was almost sitting on her own head.

"She does that, sometimes," Suki said, "when she thinks nobody's paying attention."

"I'm sorry, but I can't. I made a promise, and I'm going to see it through," Ty lee said.

"It's already been a year," Suki said.

"I know. But still, I'm going to be there when they come back," she got up and gave Suki a hug. "Good luck finding your sister," she said.

"How do you know she's looking for her sister?" the Avatar asked. Ty Lee gave an incredulous look.

"How do you not?" She shook her head. "Zhen, I'll be headed back to Kyoshi with you."

"I figured as much. Come on. Somebody out there is about to have a boat mysteriously disappear," Zhen said. As Ty Lee walked away, she heard Suki behind her.

"Let me guess. Now you're going to take issue with thievery?" Suki asked.

"No, we're fine with it," Sokka said.

"Yup, fine," his sister agreed.

"As long as it's from pirates or bad guys," the Avatar chimed in.

Ty Lee looked back one more time at her friend, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors. She tried to imprint the woman into her mind, just in case she never saw her again. She focused a bit more, and almost missed a step. Suki's aura was a dark green, solid, and smooth. It always had bin. But now, there was another, a rainbow of colors weaving around it, making its shape indistinct. It was like she suddenly grew another soul. And Ty Lee didn't know what to make of that.

"So where will you go?" Suki asked.

"Well, we're going to have to fly past the Great Divide on our way north," Sokka said.

"Biggest canyon in the world; do you think we should stop and take a look at it?" Aang asked.

The siblings shared a glance, then turned back to the Avatar, saying in unison "Just keep flying."

* * *

_Recently edited because I'm a frickin' moron who can't keep his continuity straight. Also, feel free to leave a review._


	7. Patience

**I probably made Mai a bit verbose, here. I'll have to deal with that later. Still, happy with Iroh as usual. I find him very easy to write, for some reason.**

* * *

Iroh blew a melancholy tune on his tsungi-horn. He had been so young when he heard this song first. A boy, really, out in the world alone. So long ago, and yet its every note still flowed through him. Zuko was angry. Well, that was hardly news. Zuko was often angry. It flowed in their bloodline to be angry; there was a reason why their family, the nameless House which steered the Fire Nation for so many generations, always produced firebenders, and usually of unmatched power. Just as power flowed along the threads of time, so too did anger, so too did rage. So too, did madness.

"You're not even watching anymore!" Zuko shouted. Iroh let the song drift for a moment, looking up. Golden eyes met golden eyes. "How are you supposed to be teaching me what I need to defeat the Avatar if you're not even going to pay attention?"

"I do not watch, because I have faith that you are doing it correctly," Iroh said. "If you were not, I would know."

"If I'm doing this correctly, then teach me something new," Zuko demanded. Iroh let out a long breath.

"Practice the basics, Prince Zuko," he said. "There is a skill in being able to do simple things well, and in trying circumstance, which having a few unreliable tricks cannot match."

"You're just trying to hold me back," Zuko turned to the rail.

"Yes," Iroh said. Zuko shot a look at him out his burned eye. "To keep you from doing something which would only harm you. There are things in this world you are not prepared for. You have been improvising, and that improvisation has not been working. You have to try a new path. It is a mark of madness to believe that if one keeps doing the same thing over, and over, and over again, that it will somehow have different results."

"Then show me how to do something different, instead of all this basic forms, this meditation, this Agni-shadowed 'breathing'! I've been breathing since I was born!" Zuko said.

"Patience, nephew. Please, have some patience. There is a method to my instruction. You complain about the breathing? Chi comes from the belly, and without a strong billow of breath, it gutters. Chi flows most easily in firebending of any style. If your chi is stagnant and weak, so will be your bending. The breath of fire is a reserve of resolve and power you must cultivate, so it will always be there when you need it most. Perfect it, and it will save your life."

"But I already breathe. I feel the fire. I need something useful. I need something which will help me capture the Avatar!" Zuko implored. Iroh sighed and lifted the tsungi-horn over his head and set it aside.

"And then what?" he asked gently. "You are so focused on the end of the road that you never look to see where your feet are landing. That is the easiest way to find yourself tripped up. And I won't always be there to help you back to your feet. You claim I am not helping you gain the Avatar, but that is only because you don't see the path that you walk. You are already moving toward him. You just don't realize it."

"I don't understand," Zuko said.

"That's alright. You're young. You're allowed to not understand," Iroh, said, laying a gentle hand on his nephew's shoulder. "You will find the Avatar. You will stand beside him in the Fire Palace. Your father will welcome you home; you will regain your honor. But remember to see the path. Sometimes, it takes us to our goals in ways that we never expect."

"Thank you, Uncle," Zuko said, quietly. Iroh nodded.

"Come. I think there is something I can teach you."

"What is it?"

"Stand over there, and cast flame at me," he said. Zuko protested, but Iroh cut him off. "Please, have some faith in your uncle."

"Fine. I'll go easy on you, though," he said.

"Please don't. I want this to be perfectly clear," Iroh said, setting himself into a low stance. Zuko hesitated for a moment, then punched a small fireball at Iroh. Iroh clapped his hands together in front of him, and the flame diverted past him, to dissipate over the water. Zuko looked confused, then tried again, this time with a massive blast. Iroh touched his fingertips to the deck plating, and let his chi cut the attack in half, flowing harmlessly past him on both sides.

"How did you do that?" Zuko asked.

"Chi is what powers all bending, but firebenders have a very intimate connection with it. We move it through us, project it away from us. We can even pull it apart, so that its jing crash back together," Iroh gave a partial display of his lesson, and a relatively small spray of lightning flew away from his fingertips over the water, accompanied by a loud bang. Jee leaned out of the still quite damaged helm with a look of alarm, but went back in when he saw it was just the royals. Zuko looked impressed, but Iroh knew it was for the wrong thing. "By sending the chi along special paths, we can make it do things that other people don't expect. Take a stance. Breathe deep. Now, feel that energy flowing down your arms. Like it does when you utilize your bending."

Iroh felt the fire flowing through him. More than even his brother Ozai could claim. There was a time when Iroh could have out-powered Ozai with ease, but he was a different man, then. An angrier man. He could have had that power again, but he didn't consider it worth the consequences. "I think I feel it," Zuko said. Iroh smiled.

"Good. Now let it flow right to your fingertips. Form it into a blade which extends past. Feel the energy flowing out, not being forced out. This isn't bending fire. This is bending the energy already within yourself. If you master this, then nobody on this Earth would be able to send an attack through your blade."

"Not even you?"

"I wouldn't attack you where your defense is strongest. That is your sister's thinking."

Zuko mimed the motion again, then looked back up, "If this stance is so impenetrable, how come everybody isn't using it?"

"Because not everybody knows about it," Iroh said. "Besides, it isn't impenetrable. It protects you from those attacks which are directed by flowing chi. Firebending is unmade, but against water and possibly airbending, it would only give a partial defense; those are not as reliant on moving chi, but instead, on acting with their element's jing."

"What about earthbending?" Zuko asked. Iroh turned and leaned against the rail.

"It offers no protection. None at all," he said sadly. His most shameful memories waited down that path, but it was not his time to walk among them. Instead, he turned back and to his duty to his brother's son. "Earthbending has little to do with chi at all. The bending sets the stone in motion, but what happens after that is nature taking its course. You must adapt and find ways of dealing with these threats as they arise."

"I thought you said I needed to stop improvising. You keep on saying things and then contradicting them. How am I supposed to know what I have to learn?," Zuko asked. He was calming down, in his way. Now, he was merely quite annoyed. If only Iroh could believe the Prince's relatively even temper would sustain even the slightest of hardships.

"You didn't see how extensive practice of the basic forms could ever help you, but with them, you broke Zhao's base and dealt him a stinging defeat," Iroh walked toward the bridge, pausing briefly to lay a hand on Zuko's shoulder. "Trust that I have wisdom in this, my nephew. You will be a great firebender, and a Fire Lord worth remembering."

"Without the Avatar, I am nothing."

"Without the Avatar, you are who you are. You are Prince Zuko, born of Ozai and Ursa. You were a voice of morality and sanity in a harsh, unforgiving time. Nobody can take that away from you. Not even your father."

Iroh left Zuko to think on his words and went into the ship proper. There was a lot of damage to this little ship. Over the last few months, it had been battered almost to the point of derelict. But the Fire Nation made the finest ships on the waves, the most resilient, the fastest, and even the most numerous. Even a tiny sloop such as this could weather great hardship. And it had. He paused briefly as he passed his nephew's room. He opened the door briefly and looked inside. The inside of his room was adorned with all of the trappings of home he had been allowed to take. Poor, poor boy. He was so homesick.

Iroh understood the feeling. When he went on his own excursion, he was Zuko's age. A man of fire and anger and passion. He'd walked the Earth for a decade, vanishing into the cultures he came across. He'd had to. If any of them had known he was Azulon's son, they would have clapped him in irons in a heartbeat. Not that it would have stopped him for long. But that journey gave him some great joys, for all its hardship. So he understood Zuko's homesickness. But there was something Iroh knew he couldn't understand: Zuko's desperation. Iroh could have come back any time he wanted. Zuko would forever remain an outcast.

Iroh didn't much like his brother in that moment. As he closed the doors, he thought he saw something odd. He glanced up and down, then headed inside. He moved to the back walls and ran his fingers along the blades of the dao which had adorned the wall since this long voyage began. For some reason, his eye was drawn to them. For some reason, they made him think of blue, and a city of horrors beneath the water. More than that, though, he noticed the blades were sharp. These weren't the ones Zuko had brought aboard. Those were ornamental, antiques. These were weapons. What was the boy planning?

Iroh ducked out of the room, and headed back up into the helm. Jee looked up at him and gave a smirk. "Are we ready to get underway?"

"I've just about fixed the problem. Lightning bolts don't do this ship any favors," Jee said.

"Destiny does this ship few favors," Iroh chuckled.

Jee shrugged. "We'll be back up to full speed in about an hour."  
"Good! More than enough time to play a riveting game of Pai Sho," Iroh clapped his hands together and sat himself down at one side of the board. Gi, who was a hard working if gullible fellow, offered himself up as the first opponent. Iroh decided to go easy on him. Hours passed, and even as the ship finally got to speed, Iroh couldn't play badly enough to give Yuan even a fleeting advantage. In the end, his own poor playing doomed him. Zuko finally returned to the cabin.

"Where shall we set our new course, Prince Zuko?" Iroh said from his seat. Zuko leaned against the windows, his eyes low.

"I... I don't know. Has there been any sign of him since that night?" he asked, his voice quiet.

"Well, we haven't been able to pick up the Avatar's trail since we lost him in the storm. But, and this is just a hunch of mine, I figure if we continue to the northeast..." Jee said, but was cut off by a groaning of metal and a shrill shriek of a maritime whistle. Outside loomed the hull of a Fire Nation Battleship. They already threw tethering lines toward the smaller ship's deck.

Zuko snarled. "Oh, now what do they want?"

Iroh grinned. "Perhaps a sporting game of Pai Sho?"

* * *

It was the third night in a row that Mai waited. She was patient. She had to be. Her parents could be infuriating. She watched as Tong finished putting his somewhat singed hat in a drawer. He never altered his routine. Every noble in the Fire Nation who had something to lose learned the importance of being unpredictable; Tong obviously believed he had nothing worth losing. Then again, looking around this 'city', it was obvious he didn't.

The annexation of Chin was a victory which wasn't. The most ignominious defeat that she had ever had the displeasure of coming across. And the survivors didn't even know exactly what had happened. They were invading, the gates essentially wide open for them. They got the signal to raze the town. And then, they were being cut down, subdued. Routed. Mong Ki was infuriated, but at least he hadn't been captured. He swore revenge against the Avatar. Good for him, she guessed. She didn't give it another thought, though, because she had her own task to perform. Let Mong Ki martyr himself if he really wanted to.

Father wouldn't be happy, but it wasn't his fault, so it didn't matter. The blame would fall on Deng or Hamatsu or Azun, whoever decided that one battalion could take a town and the Avatar at the same time. She didn't care. She had a job. She was a shadow, sliding along the exterior of Tong's residence. The people were too busy rebuilding from their near extermination to pay any attention to her in the day, and too exhausted to look for her at night. With a flicker of the light, she slipped through a window and any chance the locals had of seeing her sneaking about outside vanished.

She was shadow. Being inside confirmed every suspicion she had about Tong. He tried to surround himself with splendor, but obviously he had never seen the likes of real splendor, so his attempts didn't ring true by a long li. It was gaudy and ostentatious without majesty. And it was dark. Her feet didn't make a sound. If there was one thing these locals did well, it was make shoes. She did not regret that purchase. She ghosted through the rooms, making her way to his chamber. He wasn't here, of course. But he would be in a matter of a few minutes. So she waited. In the shadows.

The wooden door swung inward, and a mottled hand held onto it. The instant Tong crossed the threshold, Mai struck. A wide blade slammed into his dangling sleeve just under his wrist. A second hitched his other armpit in place. A third flick of the wrist sent three arrows which roughly framed Tong's head. Mai stepped out of the shadows, even as Tong finally got past the shock and was nearing the point where he would scream.

"Remain silent. I was attempting _not_ to hit you," Mai looked at her work. Not quite as close as she would have liked, but it worked. "And I succeeded. Now. You are Mayor Tong, prefect, magistrate, and steward of the 'city' of Chin, correct?" Tong just stared at her. Mai sighed. "You're allowed to answer my questions."

"Yes. I'm Tong! Why do you...!" Mai cut him off by slapping a hand over his mouth and pulling a third dagger. It was far from her last. She scowled.

"Would it kill you to be quiet?" she asked. "You rule here. I was sent to dethrone you."

Tong squeeled against her hand, and she rolled her eyes.

"At least, that was Mother's plan. I think she's just a typical bloodthirsty Azuli. So I am going to offer you a deal. One time offer, pass on it, and you pass onto the next life. Clear?"

Tong nodded vigorously.

"I am going to take my hand away, and then you are going to explain _exactly_ how a full battalion of rhinos was repulsed from the town by one teenage boy. And then... we'll see."

"He wasn't alone!" Tong said the instant her hand was away, but this time, it was quiet enough that it wouldn't leave the hall. "There were others. A Waterbender from the south, a brown-eyed girl, and a teenage boy. They worked together, and they drove the riders out! They even managed to capture a fist-full! Please don't stab me in the eyes!"

Mai pulled back a moment. "This teenage boy. Late teens?"

"Yes."

"Fast on his feet? Dark hair, shaved short but with a pony-tail?"

"Yes."

"Bright eyes?" Mai asked, grasping his lapels and pressing him against the door. Tong squeaked.

"Yes!"

"And he had a scar, didn't he? A scar on his face?" Mai pressed.

"Y-yes?" Tong was quivering. Mai's mind swam. She let him go and turned away.

"_Zuko? Oh, Zuko, what are you doing?_" she whispered. Then it occurred to her. The only reason he must have helped the Avatar would be to keep the rhino riders from capturing him first. Only that made sense. But why here?

She sat a moment in a chair. Zuko was alive. Everybody had just given up hope about him. Well, her parents had. Ozai obviously had. She looked back up. Hong was stock still. She stood and moved to him. She stared at him, her bright grey eyes empty, her expression grim. "So, he had help. You held up your side, so I will hold up mine. I am not going to kill you." Tong began babbling his thanks, but Mai leaned against the door with one black nailed hand. In a tone as bored as she was, she said, "But you are going to disappear. Tomorrow, people will wake up, and realize that you are gone. They will wonder. And they will never find you. Because I was sent here to dethrone you. One way or the other, I will succeed."

"You can't just expect me to..." Tong complained.

"I don't care what you think I expect. If your body is anywhere near Chin when Agni rises over the horizon, your spirit won't be. So take this opportunity to vanish. The East Continent is a very large place. Take advantage of that," she said. She pulled her knives out of his sleeves, and slipped them back into hers. They were the only things she couldn't easily replace.

"You are Fire Nation?" Tong asked, holding his hands close to his chest.

"Yes."

"You are an assassin?"

"No."

"But..."

"I am Azuli, I am Fire Nation, but I am not my mother. You should be very glad of that. If she were here, you'd not be breathing. When the morning comes, you'll be gone. Clear?"

"Clear."

"Good. Don't follow me, don't sent the guards after me. They won't succeed."

Tong glanced around. "What about the prisoners? Are you going to take them, too?"

"Why? If they were dumb enough to get caught, then they're not worth my time," she said. And then, she was gone. Well, she was out the window and walking down an alley, but she had long ago learned that leaving very quickly was a useful skill. It would be a long walk back to Omashu, but she felt lighter, now. Zuko was alive. Zuko was safe. Zuko was an idiot, but... there was still hope. Weird, how seldom that sort of thinking occurred to Mai.


	8. A Parting of Ways

Zhao was not happy. People tended to die when Zhao was not happy. He stormed across his cabin and back, a slow fire burning through the gauntlets on his hands. It was one thing to be defeated. It was another to be humiliated in such a complete and total fashion. He walked over to the table, running his fingers along the map. The map smoked a bit when he did. There could be only one destination for the Avatar, now. He knew it with his soul. But there were other problems.

"– and the military ramifications of this technology can not be understated," Qin said, positively beside himself with glee, to the point where he was completely oblivious to the fact that Zhao was ignoring him. "If we can reverse engineer the advancements that the Machinist and that brilliant Tribesman built into the design, we could improve upon it. Not just for reconnaissance, but for..."

"Yes, I'm well aware of your pet projects. How's that drill coming along?" Zhao asked. Qin blanched a bit. "I thought as much. You spread yourself thin, and you don't ever really achieve anything. Not like me. I have one focus, one goal, and I will not fail in achieving it."

"I haven't seen that so far," Qin said, smugly.

"I have always been following the Avatar on his terms. Now, I will be following him on mine. The White Dragon fleet is mustered off the coast of Hui Lo, and they will advance on the north on my order."

"Only Ozai could give such an order," Qin pointed out.

"_Fire Lord_ Ozai," Zhao pointedly corrected. "And he has vested me with a unique privilege; he has named me Grand Admiral of the North Armadas. I command everything from Chameleon Bay to the North Pole. Everything worth mentioning, anyway. So, you can go and play with your little toys: I have an invasion to plan."

In truth, his invasion was already planned out. He just didn't feel like talking any longer with a bureaucrat who considered himself Zhao's equal. Zhao had no equal. He would show the world that. Never mind that he had been goaded into destroying a good amount of his own machinery by the Avatar, who did not so much as attempt a single strike. Never mind that he had the Avatar firmly in his grasp at Red Peak Fortress, only to be stolen away by that Blue Spirit. No, those were temporary setbacks. Bumps in his path to greatness, something which would add flavor to the retelling when it was over. Or to be erased entirely, if he felt like it.

But there was a problem. Zuko. He thought back to that encounter, on their ship. They had, of course, categorically denied that they had any knowledge of, or involvement in, the actions of the Blue Spirit, but Zhao saw those weapons. The Twin Dao were a weapon not utilized by many. And while the claim was made that they were not actually weapons, Zhao could feel the lie of it under his fingertips. He had considered sending a missive to Ozai, informing the Fire Lord of the boy's treason... but that would take too long. Zhao was not a patient man. Not really.

A metallic clank sounded. A pause. Another clank. Steady as footsteps, the approached. There was a rapping of metal against metal at Zhao's door. Not even waiting for Zhao to answer, the outsider pushed the door inward with a metal hand. Its fingers were curved down, like it was trying to cup a cylinder, and it was solid metal right to his elbow. A useless prosthetic. His leg was much more useful. Metal like his arm, this one had shock absorbers, had pivots and bearings. A false limb, but one with utility. He ducked through the threshold, and rose to his full height, his shaved crown definitely rubbing on the ceiling.

"You are the agent I sent for?"

The bald man nodded once. He was an impressive figure; his beard, complete and not in Fire Nation style but quite short, didn't actually attach to anything. It ended above his ears with a bald head. He stared at Zhao.

"And you are willing to undertake this task?"

The agent nodded once. The most disconcerting thing about the agent was the tattoo in the center of his forehead. It stared out like a third, burning eye. Whispers told that it was his focus for his unique form of firebending, and that learning that form was what cost him his arm and leg. Little cost, because he was still enormous, still mobile, and still deadly.

"And you understand that there can be no screw ups? There are no second chances. If you fail in this, the blame can fall on you alone, as I will accept no responsibility. Is that clear?"

The agent stared at Zhao for a very long time, then gave what would have been a casual shrug of the shoulder, were he not burning with such intensity in his eyes. There was a reason this man demanded such a high price for his abilities; he was not one who accepted failure lightly. He turned toward the door, then paused. Waiting.

"You want to know who your target is?" he just stared at Zhao. "The Exiled Prince, Zuko. He is a traitor, and a threat to this nation," the agent just cracked his remaining knuckles against a steel hand. "And you will be paid your usual amount. But..."

The agent stopped and turned to Zhao completely again. Even without saying a word, Zhao knew that he was in a particularly impatient mood. Zhao could appreciate. "This is a job which requires subtlety. While your usual methods are extremely effective, I need something which gives me a measure of plausible deniability. It will be 'a terrible tragedy' which befell our nation's once proud prince in foreign lands, inexplicable, and unpredictable. Can you do this?"

The agent took in, then released, a long, almost angry breath. Then, after another awkward silence, he nodded, once. Zhao smirked, and reached into his lock box to produce a small bag of Gold Disks. The coins were not large, but they represented the combined earning potential of an entire village for a decade. He tossed it to the agent. It bounced off his wide chest, and landed on the floor in front of him. He looked down at it, and then back up to Zhao. "That is your payment. Up front, as you always stipulate."

The agent let out a low, deep grunt, then stooped down and picked up the bag. It vanished into his tunic. Zhao rose his voice one more time as he was preparing to duck back out of the threshold. "One more thing. I have said that time is of the essence. This needs to be done quickly and quietly, or at least, quickly. Alright?" The agent looked at him with those same, entirely-too-intense eyes, but now, they were entirely-too-intense disinterest. The agent stared at Zhao for a long moment, then vanished out of the room. The metal clank marked his exit from he corridor, and eventually, from the ship itself.

Things were coming along quite nicely. A smirk found its way onto Zhao's face as he ran his fingers along the map of the world. It rested first on Sozin City, political capitol of the Fire Nation. Soon, of the world, do doubt. It moved north, along the horn of the East Continent, past the Hui Jungles, to the colony at Hui Lo. The mightiest fleet in the world, waiting for him. Across the seas which, despite its very element fighting them, the Fire had mastered. To the north pole. To the Water Tribe.

He reached over and locked his door, before opening up a secret compartment under his file drawer. He pulled the smaller of the two scrolls out of it, and opened it. The Great Library of Wan Shi Tong had been quite illuminating about a great many subjects. The mad old spirit tried to make sure more information came in than was taken out, but Zhao managed to upset that balance. The Avatar claimed to have a way with the spirits, but only Zhao could use them as he saw fit. He opened that sacred, impossible scroll again. Push and pull, Tui and La. Paired spirits. Paired forms. Paired, vulnerable, fleshy forms.

The Avatar was now low on his priorities. If he could capture the Avatar... again... it would be a tiny boon compared to the accolades he would acquire by bringing down the only organized opposition that remained to the Fire Nation's control of the seas. Zhao, the conqueror. But there were still things which troubled him.

"The men are restless," he said to himself. "They are not up to an assault of this magnitude; they'll need something to strengthen their backbones. They need a figurehead, an icon," suddenly, the smirk had reestablished itself on his face, and would not be chased away again. "Somebody like the Dragon of the West," he turned and spoke into the horn which stood next to the door. "Set a course for Hichiman Island. Full speed. We have a rendezvous to make with the Dark Prince."

* * *

"_Winter, spring / summer and fall. Winter, spring / summer and fall. Four seasons / four loves. Four seasons / four loves,_" Iroh sang. The island was quiet; despite being a protectorate of the Fire Nation, they were not the same bustling, always-busy folk which the nation spawned. This was another culture, cousins at best to the Fire Nation, and a refreshing one for the old general. Jee quietly strummed on his pipa, accompanying Iroh. He'd tried to get Dong to play the tsungi horn, but Dong couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. So the minimal song would be the best they could have.

"_Water, earth / fire and air. Four elements / one world_," he continued. He had invited Zuko, but the young prince sat near the door to the bunks. He was in one of his moods, again. The men, though, welcomed the levity. Yuan and Jia were dancing together to the song. Good for them. Although, it was good that Zuko wasn't paying attention, and better, that he'd never been very keen on Fire Nation etiquette; their dance was one popular in Ba Singh Se. Some would consider that a cultural betrayal. Iroh was just glad that his crew had some morale left. Footfalls caught his attention over the banging of rivets into the deck plates. Calamity seemed to follow this poor little ship. Iroh wondered if the universe had decided to make its name an ironic joke. Jee played a sour note, and Iroh turned to the ramp. The skull helmets of Imperial firebenders appeared above the rail and they moved onto the ship like they owned it. Which they didn't. It was Iroh's ship. He stopped singing, and gave them a sour look.

"Didn't your mother tell you it's rude to interrupt a party, Zhao?" he asked, quietly. Zhao emerged from the center of his 'honor guard', and faced Iroh with a smirk. Iroh didn't like it when Zhao smirked; it usually meant that somebody was about to get hurt.

"My mother told me what I needed to know," Zhao said. "That power is important. That we do what we must to gain it, and to maintain it," Zhao's smirk turned to a malevolent smile. Iroh didn't like this. Zhao was usually quite easy to bait, and gave away much when he lost his temper. This time, though, he obviously had things in his favor, or at least, he thought he did. "We should speak in private."

"These men are off duty. You can speak in front of them," Iroh said gently. "Unless this is a matter of Fire Nation military policy, they should be allowed to continue their fun."

Zhao's smirk didn't alter one whit. "You're right. They can hear this. It concerns them directly, after all."

Iroh didn't like the way this was settling. He turned to Zuko and shouted to him. "Zuko! I need you."

"For the last time, I'm not playing the tsungi horn!" Zuko shouted back. Then, he looked up from his bleak and saw Zhao. His eyes widened.

"You should pay better attention, Prince Zuko," Iroh said. He beckoned the youth over. Zuko didn't look too pleased. The dichotomy of the two men, Zuko and Zhao, was staggering. Triumphant against defeated. Enraged versus melancholy. Exultant against dour. Corrupted against pure. "What do you want, Captain Zhao?"

Zhao's smile began to bare teeth, and not happily. "_Arch-Admiral_ Zhao," he said. "I'm taking your men."

"WHAT?" Zuko roared.

"Your little rag-tag of miscreants and misfits has been conscripted by the Fire Nation to aid an expedition to the North Pole. Iroh, you are requested to join me," Zhao said. Zuko seethed, his earlier melancholy burned away in fury. Such a change was a worrying one.

"I cannot leave my nephew alone and stranded on this island," Iroh said firmly.

"Oh, did I say request?" Zhao chuckled. "Consider it a demand."

Zuko's eyes widened. "You can't do that! You have no authority!"

"Your father gave me the authority, boy," Zhao said. Iroh saw the pattern forming. He didn't like it. "Fire Lord Ozai recommended in the strongest possible terms that his brother, the Dragon of the West, involve himself in the invasion of the Northern Water Tribe. I believe the missive included the words 'or else'."

"Then why are you taking the crew?" Zuko demanded.

"Every experienced hand will be vital in the coming invasion. We are going to be fighting hundreds of waterbenders. These people have suffered at the hands of their ilk; I don't doubt that they're more than willing to have a bit of revenge."

Iroh doubted it. These men had been rescued, every one. While each was skilled in their respective task and role, Iroh had spent the last ten years collecting them. Ever since he began to understand the meaning of the cost that shaman had asked of him. Perhaps, he reasoned, if he did some good, then he could perhaps balance what bad he had done in his life. A notion occurred to him. "Even the cook?" he asked, his voice wavering.

Zhao smirked at Iroh. "_Especially_ the cook."

Iroh moaned at his misfortune. Zuko stepped forward. "You can't do this," he said.

"I already have, boy."

"Don't call me 'boy'," Zuko growled. "I am Crown Prince Zuko, heir of the Fire Nation."

Zhao burst out laughing at that. Zuko took a step back out of alarm. The laughing face of Zhao was so incongruous that it seemed some demon or spirit had momentarily taken over Zhao's body, making it work against its nature. Or else, this was of Zhao's nature, but it had been twisted into something wholly unnatural.

"Oh, you didn't hear, did you?" Zhao asked. "How could you have? You're living on the fringes of society. Boy, you are not 'Zuko, crown prince and heir to the Fire Nation'. You are the Dark Prince, heir to nothing. You, are nothing. Azula was declared Crown Princess several weeks ago," Zhao's grin grew wide and wrathful. "Even if you could go home, you would never... _EVER_... be Fire Lord."

Zuko rushed at Zhao with a guttural roar, but Iroh interposed himself between them. "No, Zuko! Please!"

"You're lying!" Zuko shouted.

"Why would I lie? I already have everything I need," Zhao said, his voice calm, but his eyes vicious and cruel. "Iroh. Please, join me on my ship."

"You can't take us," Jee said, moving his pipa to his back. "Most of these men aren't even soldiers."

"You're right. That's why I said 'conscripted', firebender," Zhao said. "And don't think I forgot about you. You're quite right about yourself. I can't conscript you. You've been dishonorably discharged. We can't trust you in a life-or-death situation. Guards, put him in irons."

"Zhao, wait!" Iroh implored, forestalling the bedlam. "Please, it is late. Let me consider things."

"You're right. I am a reasonable man," hardly. "I will have your answer at sunrise tomorrow. Iroh, I am looking forward to working with you."

Zhao turned and walked away, and the firebender guards went with him. When he reached the head of the ramp, he turned, and shot a smirk at Zuko. "I'm sorry you can't be there when I capture the Avatar, but I can't have you getting in the way, again."

Zuko shifted in Iroh's hands, trying to throw himself at the Admiral, but Iroh managed to hold him in place. "Please, Prince Zuko. There will be another day!"

"When?" Zuko asked, his voice laced with a murderous rage. "How? Am I supposed to man this ship alone?"

"Prince Zuko, you have to trust me on this. Please."

Zuko stopped pushing toward the retreating Zhao, and turned toward the water. He stared at the water for a long moment, then turned and bent a blast of fire which incinerated the drums and sent the crew fleeing out of the way. He then turned his rage to the solid wall of the helm. Punches flew, each one landing in the steel, powered by powerful firebending, until the metal grew red and weak. His final kick put a sizable dent in the bulkhead, and Zuko fell to a seat with his back to the rail, his fingers digging into his scalp.

Iroh moved closer, trying to offer some comfort to his nephew. "Prince Zuko..."

"I'm not a prince," Zuko said, his voice quavering a bit. Iroh could see tear trails where they had reached, before the heat boiled them away. "I'm nobody."

"You are not nobody, nephew. You will regain your honor. Trust in that."

"Just leave me alone," Zuko said quietly. Iroh sighed quietly.

"Then I will leave you to your meditation," he said. "And your solitude. Whatever makes you happy."

Jee looked furtively between the prince – and he was still a prince, damn Zhao's traitorous eyes – and the retired and debatably disgraced general. "General Iroh, what are we going to do?"

"Do what Zhao says," Iroh said quietly. "If you ever want to see the Fire Nation again."

"But, what about us? I will not be a prisoner again," Jee said. Iroh leaned toward the disgraced firebender, and pitched his tone low.

"Run," he said. "Vanish into the Earth Kingdoms or the unaligned lands. And do it tonight. I am sorry, but this is the only freedom that I can give you, now."

Jee stared hard at Iroh, but then, quite unexpectedly, he leaned low, giving the Burning Rock, the traditional Hui salute. "It has been a great honor, Dragon of the West."

Iroh smiled, then bend himself, returning the Burning Rock to Wei. "It has been mine. Live well."

"I fear none of us will. What will you do about Zuko? Do you think he's going to pursue the Avatar alone?"

"I said I would come up with something. As long as I draw breath, I will not abandon Prince Zuko," Wei's brows drew down. "He is still prince. He will be Fire Lord. I know it in my soul."

"Then... I guess I can only say I hope we meet in gentler days."

"If we live long enough to see them," Iroh said. And he watched as Jee went into the bowels of the ship to take the last remaining skiff. Below the decks, the rhythmic banging of the workers with their tools trying to patch up this ship one more time continued. He'd might as well call them off. He sighed, feeling a growl of hunger. Tomorrow. Their day was almost done, anyway. Without another word, but a sinking feeling in his chest, he walked down the ramp. He knew in his heart he would never sail the seas on that ship again.

* * *

**I have a feeling we'll be seeing Jee again some time in the future.**


	9. Spirit Touched

**I didn't like the way Yue was protrayed in the series. I feel that she was probably the biggest misstep of the creators in terms of a woman protrayed as a character. So I changed her around a bit, too. Instead of the running-away-weeping girl she always appeared as in the series, this Yue is a put-on-a-brave-face-and-bear-it woman who only shows her 'weakness' to others she trusts and values. Doing this also made her relationship with Sokka a bit more believable.**

* * *

Yue smiled as Sokka came close. His grin was wide and guileless, a welcome change from the faces of her courtiers and suitors. "I almost expected you not to show up?"

"What, and miss having some time with you? Never."

"We wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to engage in an activity," Yue teased. Sokka got a sour look on his face. "Oh, don't be like that. Come on. I know you're aching to see what the Northern Capitol is like."

Sokka fell in at her right side quickly enough. She expected him to say something funny, since he seemed that type; uneducated, witty but uncouth. Instead, he had a quiet look of sadness on his face. "Everybody says that forty years ago, the South Pole looked like this," he said. "We had Waterbenders to protect our borders and maintain our cities. But it's all gone, now. Everything crumbled. By the time I was born, it was just a memory that the elders were too sad to talk about."

"I never knew anything about the Southern Tribe, except that it existed," Yue said. Her eyes went down to the carved stone floor. "In truth, I've never been out of the capitol. Tell me, Sokka. What's it like out there? Outside of the ice and the sea?"

Sokka began to smile again. "Big. Bigger than you could have ever imagined. And hot. So hot, you start to sweat even if you're not doing anything. And there are places where you can go for miles and not see a drop of water."

Yue looked at Sokka, unable to viscerally believe that. "That sounds like a vision of Hell," she said.

"Hardly," he said. "There's always plenty to eat; not just tiger-walrus and penguin, but boarcupine, cowppopotamus, even deep fried lizard! And you can sleep outside, at night, and never have to worry about freezing," Sokka paused for a long moment at that, an uneven grin coming to his face. "Weird, how quick I got used to that, isn't it?"

"What else? Surely, there must have been marvels you encountered in your travels," Yue asked, a bit excited.

"I do believe I'm being used," Sokka said, that grin finally back in place. His tone became dramatic. Almost needlessly so. "Can't say I don't like it, though. I've seen the great, towering spires of the Air Nomad temples, both south and north. I've seen the unassailable walls of Omashu; I was even imprisoned by its king for a while. I saved an Earth Kingdom town from a battalion of rhinos."

"You didn't!"

Sokka faltered a bit. "Well, no, umm... Kinda? I had help."

Yue smiled, and brought him to a stop, overlooking the training fields. She could see the Avatar beginning his lessons with Pakku below. For some reason, the Avatar looked like he was trying very hard not to be angry. She turned to face Sokka, just as he turned to face her. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe!" he declared, proud as a monkey who stole a cup and wore it as a hat. "Scourge of the Fire Nation! Inventor, warrior, and explorer without peer!"

She continued to stare at him. Blue eyes met blue eyes, until his turned away. "Sokka..."

"I'm... not really anybody," he said. "I don't even know why I'm here. I said I was going to protect my sister, but she doesn't need me to protect her anymore. She's a waterbender, and now she's got a master who'll teach her. I'm just... along for the ride."

"No, you're not," she said. A quite unnatural chill ran through her. She could feel when the spirits were near her. She'd always been able to, since the day she was born. "You are exactly where you need to be," she said. She wasn't sure exactly why she said it, but knew it was right.

Yue glanced over, and quickly took a step away from Sokka, leaving him a little baffled. It wasn't until Father came around the corner that Sokka quickly turned back to the courtyard. "What are you doing up here, Yue?" Arnook asked. "It's a cold day. You could catch a chill."

"I'll be fine, father," she said. "I'm not helpless. You know that. I'm a grown woman now."

"By custom and law, yes," Arnook said, stepping between Yue and Sokka. "But in my heart, you'll always be that little girl that the spirits gave back to us."

Yue briefly rested her head on her father's arm. "You shouldn't worry so much," she said. Then she took a step back from the rail. "I take it things are not going well with the Circle?"

"No. They pull in every direction except the one we need to go. Water is change, and if we cannot change with the times, we'll be unmade by them," he said.

"I thought you were all working together on this?" Sokka said. Arnook turned quickly to the young man. "Isn't the Northern Tribe united?"

"In name, yes, but in deed..." Arnook trailed off. "I'm sorry, but I don't believe we've been properly introduced. Your accent marks you as Tribesman, but I've never heard its like."

Yue moved around her father and stood beside Sokka. "This is the son of Hakoda, chief of the Southern Tribe. He and his sister accompanied the Avatar to the capitol," she paused, since there was no recognition in his eyes. "He was at the feast two days ago?"

Arnook sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't remember. I haven't had much time to rest. Between Pakku's followers ranting and the schisms that I've been fighting to hold closed, I haven't had any sleep in days."

"Oh, I know how that goes," Sokka said.

"Well, you had best be getting to Pakku. He hates it when his students are late," Arnook said, turning away. Sokka scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Um, Chief Arnook? I'm not the waterbender. My sister is." Arnook turned back, his face had a look of tension on it.

"Oh, this will be a problem," he said. He turned to Yue. "I don't suppose you've brought the outsiders to speed on the political situation here?"

"I haven't had time or access," she said, she turned to Sokka. "Until now. Sokka, things aren't as they seem up here. Father is seen as a radical, and there are a lot of forces which are trying to keep the status quo intact. Pakku is a rallying voice for the conservatives, which includes much of the military. His ideas are old ideas. They might have sustained us before the Weary War, but we're losing manpower faster than the Fire Nation; they have more reserves, more technology, more supplies. They can take a hit to their population. We can't. Father has been making compromises, but if they ever split..."

"Then most of the military will go with them, and the city will be defenseless," Sokka finished. Then he paused. "Unless they simply throw a coup and take the city from you."

"It's a delicate balance," Arnook said. There was a crash somewhere behind them. Arnook frowned in that direction, then turned back. "Like I said, Pakku is full of old ideas. One of those ideas, I'm sure you'll hear about in a moment, is that women are forbidden any waterbending beyond the healing arts. I may be the mind of the Water Tribe, but Pakku, he is its beating heart."

"And what does that make Yue?" Sokka said. So he did pick up on that, didn't he?

"My daughter is the Water Tribe's soul," Arnook tweezed his brow. "If you'll excuse me, I have to mediate yet another dispute," he looked back up. "Sokka, son of Hakoda, chief of the Southern Water Tribe... please try to stay out of trouble. I have enough as it is."

Sokka nodded, but his eyes went back to Yue. Then, to the hall where they heard the crash. He waggled his head in that direction as Arnook moved past them to the Hall of Many. "The soul?" Sokka asked.

"I have always been close to the spirits," she said. "When I was born, I was not alive. I did not breathe nor cry, my skin was blue and cold. But my parents begged the spirits to save me; I was the only child they could ever have. They agreed to save me, but the spirits always exact a heavy price. Few can deal with the spirits and have deals which favor them. They lowered me into the Spirit Oasis, and I sank into the water. The water became cloudy, and when they pulled me back up, my skin was dark and my hair had become white. I was marked by the spirits, and I feel them to this day. I was chosen as High Shaman when I was six years old. I've been the spiritual leader for my people ever since."

Sokka just stared at her, an odd expression on his face. "I was going to ask about the hair, but I wasn't sure how," he frowned. "Wait a minute... You see dead people?"

"And living people, and things which were never alive," she said. The two rounded a corner. "My father might not be respected by the whole of our culture, but I am. Tui and La speak to me. They tell me things that – why is that door on the ground?"

Sokka look became one of alarm. "Oh. Pakku wouldn't teach a girl. Katara!" he said, running into the room. Yue followed behind. Inside the found his sister, covered in sweat as she furiously bend the water from a cup into a blade which was cutting apart the contents of her room. When she apparently had enough, she hurled it blindly at a wall. Sokka let out a loud yelp and dived out of the way as the forearm length icicle embedded itself into the solid stone.

"WHAT?" she screamed. There were tears in her eyes, but Yue knew that they wouldn't be of sadness. Sokka took a long step toward her. "What do you want? Come to laugh at your little sister's insane and pointless plans? Find a waterbending master, go to the north pole. You were right. I should have stayed home."

"No, I really wasn't," Sokka said. He pulled her into a close hug. Yue felt a tug in her heart. She had never experienced that sort of closeness with another human being. How could she? She was an icon, something to be revered, not loved. Katara still breathed heavy, and tears still waited, pooled in her eyes, but she started to calm down. "It wasn't what either of us expected, but I know I wouldn't give up the trip I had for anything. You'll find a teacher, little sister. I know you will. And when you do, you'll come back here and beat the stuffing out of Pakku to show him what a Southern waterbender is all about."

Almost despite herself, Katara let out a laugh. She pulled back, sitting on the gouged bench. "You do know just what to say when I'm feeling mopey," Katara finally focused on Yue for a moment. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"The fete celebrating the arrival of the Avatar," she said. "I am Yue, daughter of Arnook."

Katara brightened. "Then you can tell Arnook to make Pakku teach me!"

Sokka shook his head. "Not exactly. Arnook and Pakku; think Aang and Zuko, except they have to see each other just about every day."

The waterbender looked a little crestfallen. "So what am I supposed to do?"

Sokka stroked an invisible beard. "I'll figure something out."

Yue looked closer at Katara, and noticed the band around her neck. She pointedly avoided touching her own. She sat down beside the girl. "So, who is the lucky boy?"

"What?" Katara asked.

"Your betrothal necklace," she said, tapping a finger to the blue soapstone. It was a very rare and valued shade, one which only the wealthiest could afford. "He must be really something to give you such an exquisite piece."

"This? Betr... no! No, no no. This was my grandmother's," Katara said, unhooking it to hold in her hand. "She gave it to my mother, Kya. My mother gave it to me. It's just an heirloom."

"But you're from the Southern Water Tribe. They don't have blue soapstone, there."

"Gran-gran was from the North," Katara explained. "She never said why she came to the South. I never asked. It was almost sixty years ago."

Yue frowned. "What was her name?"

"Gran-gran?" Sokka asked.

"Kana," Katara answered. "Why?"  
Yue didn't answer her. She felt a presence with her. It was cold and malevolent, patient. She schooled her face to stillness. Not this time, Koh. She could feel his vicious chuckle in the hairs on the back of her neck, and she waited until the feeling had fled before she started paying attention to the world again.

"– and then the smoke started creeping out the door, and we thought you were burning the place down," Katara said, laughing uproariously. How long had Koh been there this time? She didn't know, and didn't want to ask. So she listened. Stories of a youth amongst people. A poor and dispirited tribe, clinging to the edge of oblivion, yet still so full of hope. Stories of pranks pulled, milestones reached. Sokka spoke of ice-dodging using rocks off the coast of the East Continent. Katara spoke of stealing a waterbending scroll from a pirate-ship, and the difficulties which followed it. For the first time in her life, Yue actually felt like she was a part of a culture, rather than just as symbol of it.

"That was exhausting," the Avatar's voice came from the door. Well, doorway; the door was still smashed to bits in the floor of the hall. "Pakku is relentless."

"And he's also a big jerk," Katara grumbled, her good spirits quickly curdling.

"I have an idea," Sokka said, raising a finger upward. "Why don't you teach what Pakku's teaching you to my sister at night?"

"But Pakku said," Aang began. Sokka cut him off.

"That way, she benefits from the tutelage of Pakku, you get a waterbending master, and nobody is violating any 'cultural rules'," Sokka said. Yue had to agree, it the Southerner was right. It did fit the laws as written.

"I don't know, Sokka," Aang said. For some reason, she had a hard time seeing him as the Avatar right now.

"Come on. What's the worst that could happen?" Sokka asked.

* * *

The banging wouldn't cease. Zuko tossed and turned as the sound continued to assault his ears. Zhao. That bastard son of a jackle. How dare he? Zuko was Crown Prince! He would be Fire Lord. Then, he remembered that he was now neither. Azula would be Fire Lord when Father died, if he ever did. He turned and faced the wall, staring at the great red and black standard of the ruling house. It had waved valiently for two thousand years. Now, it mocked him. He stood, facing that wall.

It was not an official standard. Those were spun of silk and dyed in the thread. This was a canvas knock-off. With a heave, he tore it from the wall, balled it up, and hurled it into a corner. He wasn't Prince Zuko. He wasn't anybody. What had Zhao called him? Right. The Dark Prince. Well, if he was a Dark Prince, he would show the world what sort of Dark Prince he could be. He sat on is bed a moment, cradling his head, as that banging continued. Why were they still working on the ship? He decided to give them a piece of his mind.

As Zuko walked, his mind went to other times. The world faded away, and he was no longer walking down a dark and stained iron hallway; he was walking down the hewn obsidian of Sozin City. Much of the upper city's masonry was made of the sharp, black stone, abundant as it was. But the stone under his feet didn't hold his attention as much as who he was sharing it with. He didn't see her, at first. He never did. She always appeared out of nowhere, matching step with him at his side the moment he wasn't paying attention. "If you keep doing that, one day I'm going to have a heart attack," he said. She just gave him one of those small, shy smiles she always did.

"You know you love it," she said. She leaned in close and rested her head on his shoulder as he walked. Her hair was black, but it shone with every light they passed. "You seem tense."

"I am tense," Zuko had said. "I'm finally invited in to Father's war meetings. I'm going to see what it means to be Fire Lord."

"It sounds like it's just going to be another boring meeting," she said. Her small smile turned to a smirk. "Come on, let's just let this one slip passed. There are better things to do."

Zuko came to a stop, shaking his head. "No. There aren't. If I'm going to be Fire Lord, I need to see this war for myself. I need to understand the world if I am ever going to rule. I'm sorry, but I have my duty, and I can't just ignore it."

She scowled lightly. Her skin was hardly flawless, but they were both of the age where that wasn't unexpected. "You're starting to sound like an old man. Hidebound and obsessed with 'your honor'."

"Please," Zuko had said. "Honor isn't that important. Not as important as experience and responsibility."

"Alright. Who are you and what did you do with Zuko?" she asked sarcastically.

"Zuko grew up. You know that as well as anybody. What about you? What are you doing?"

"Trying to talk my father out of another idiotic assignment," she said. "His ambitions are going to get me killed. Or exiled," she sighed, shaking her head. "Parents."

"I wouldn't know," Zuko said.

"What are you doing after the meeting?" she asked.

"I don't know. Have dinner. See if Azula's stopped threatening the servants, maybe?" he had said. Her smile took on a predatory look.

"How about we meet after dark," she asked. The smile grew wider. "I'm considering leaving the knives at home."

"But why would you..." and then it hit him. "Oooooh," He started smiling like an idiot. "I guess I have something to look forward to after that meeting."

"You definitely do," Mai said, leaning down to give him a kiss. He wondered if she was still taller than he was, or if he'd caught up with her. She walked away, silent as a shadow. All the promises and hopes in the world amounted for nothing, though. He disgraced himself in the meeting, demanding better treatment of the troops, that the novice but loyal troops shouldn't be sacrificed so heartlessly. He had been challenged to an Agni Kai by his father, but Zuko was young. He couldn't bring himself to fight his own patriarch. Ozai didn't have a choice, though. The ritual had begun, it would end in fire. And it did. Fire, shame, and banishment. He never saw her face again.

Zuko was brought out of his reverie when he bumped into somebody's back. "Watch where you're going!" he barked at the man. The back was very broad, and hunched over something. Zuko's eyes widened when he looked at the engine room; it was packed with dozens of barrels of blasting jelly. "What are you...?"  
He was cut off when a fist smashed into the side of his face. He was thrown into the wall, stars filling his vision and everything falling out of focus. He tried to defend himself. To throw some fire at the intruder. To even get out of the way. Something like a metal club smashed Zuko in the chest, bringing him to his knees. Mustering the last of his reserves, that pool of Chi Iroh was always talking about, he threw out his hands. The darkness of his blurry vision became brightness, but then snuffed. Zuko could only watch dumbly as the massive, blurry shape came before him. He didn't even have the strength to move out of the way when the last blow came.


	10. The Spirits Demand

**Remember how I changed Yue a bit to soothe my annoyance? I might have turned her into a bit of a badass, quite by accident. Can't say I'm complaining, though. Also, even when Sokka can be a bit of an idiot, he knows what he knows, he picks things up fast, and when faced with something he understands, he makes connections quickly. That's something that some people don't get about him. It's fun to write for him, since he's always capable of being hilariously wrong.**

* * *

The agent was unimpressed. For a royal, he had given a damned poor showing. But then again, he hadn't expected to have to deal with an assassin of the agent's capacities. It never worked well to underestimate an opponent's abilities; better and safer to assume the worst. That military twit would probably not be happy with the way this went down, but he didn't care, and probably wouldn't even tell him. There were things people didn't need to know.

In truth, this probably made his job easier. With the prince this close to the explosion, there wouldn't be enough left of him to fill a helmet, let alone a grave. Inside, never reaching his expressionless face, he smiled a bit. He enjoyed this job. They tried to tap him for the army when they learned he was a firebender, but he never worked well with others. None of them made it off of his front porch. Usually, his job just entailed him going to a hill or rooftop near his target, and bombarding them out of existence. Tasks like this were a bit trickier, but well within his capabilities. They always reminded him of his superiority to those mindless fools. The Fire Nation might win this war and rule the world, but it would be people like him who lived well off of it.

He walked away from the barrels, letting the trail of blasting jelly fall behind him. He even let it flow over the Prince's still form. Sometimes, his work was just too easy. With the trail finally extended to the door to the deck, he struck a spark off of his metal arm and walked away, leaving the Dark Prince to his dark fate.

Zuko could smell something stinking in the air. The smell called to mind blasting jelly, but he knew he couldn't have smelled that. He tried to look around. Everything hurt. He could barely open his eyes.

"Be careful, nephew," Iroh's instantly recognizable voice came to Zuko. "You were very badly beaten. And somebody tried to set you on fire," there was a long pause. "Destiny seems to lack originality around you."

"Wha... what..." Zuko slurred over split lips.

"Somebody tried to assassinate you, my prince," Iroh said. "And as far as he knows, he will succeed. Come, get up," Zuko found himself being hoisted and supported. He could barely move, his head was spinning so badly. "I promised that I would keep you safe from harm, and right now, the safest you can be, is if you are dead."

Zuko didn't really pay attention as he was carried out of the ship. He couldn't. Behind him, he heard and felt Iroh cast a small bolt of fire onto the deck, and a hiss erupted, which faded away into the distance. Rather than into the town, Iroh took Zuko along the rocky beach, until they stopped at a cave not far from the ship. A great blast rocked the sky, tearing the ship in twain. Zuko had to struggle not to vomit.

"We are committed to our course," Iroh said. "Come. You and I are going to the North Pole."

* * *

Yue was picking at her midday meal, her mind drifting happily to when Sokka was due to show up again. She hadn't expected to appreciate him as she had. He was a good man, even if he was young and a bit naïve. If only she could have met him a few months ago. If only she wasn't who she was. But that was interrupting happy thoughts. She'd just gotten back to remembering that warm feeling she got when they talked about life on the back of Appa, that magical beast of the Avatar, when Sokka came charging into her chambers.

"What are you doing here? You're early," she said, a bit surprised.

"Pakku is refusing to teach Aang," Sokka said, breathing heavy. He must have run all the way here. "He found out that Aang was teaching Katara at night, and now he says that Aang 'disrespected the laws of the Northern Water Tribe', and that he 'isn't a fit student'. He's cast Aang out!"

Yue shook her head. "He wouldn't be that stupid."

"He really was."

"He couldn't refuse to teach the Avatar. I mean... he just _couldn't_!" Yue said. She stood. "Where is the Avatar?"

"Packing! He's going to leave! You have to do something," Sokka cast around. "Talk to Pakku, talk to Arnook, find one of the other waterbenders, something!"

"Wait here," she said. She turned and went into the Chamber of Many, a short distance away. She strode right past the assembled elders and petitioners. Eyes watched her, and conversations quelled, as she moved past her father, and reached up the wall. Above the Chief's seat was the plaque of command, made of part of the progenitor's canoes, and the weapon of the first High Chief, Nannuica. It was unique in all the world. Its head was a rough stone which was harder than steel, sharp as a blade, and yet almost transparent. She grabbed Nannuica's Spear and strode away from her father.

"What is this madness?" Godou shouted.

"Yue, what are you doing?" her father asked.

"My duty," she said. Godou stood and began to shout his dismay.

"Restrain your girl!" he cried. "This behavior is unacceptable."

"Yue, please," Arnook said, "things are so delicate right now..."

"I don't don't care about your politics," Yue said, her voice still quiet, but she felt the spirits settle into her. They were her frequent companions, Tui and La. They were inside her now. Everybody could see it, just as fully as she could feel it. The room fell silent, and her words as well as boomed. "You forget who I am. In this, I am not the daughter of Arnook. I am High Shaman of the Southern Water Tribe. I do as I will with the spirits, and the spirits do as they will with me. They will I leave. Do you intend to stand in my way?"

Godou and those who had opposed her quietly sat down. Fear was in their eyes. She didn't like having to do this, but things were dire. Desperate. She strode out of the room, past Sokka who had been waiting at the door. "What was... I mean, I don't even..." he stammered.

"Pakku is going to destroy the world with his pride," Yue said. "The spirits won't allow that."

Sokka just shook his head. "You really are a powerful shaman, aren't you?" he asked. She just gave him a smile. But he recoiled a bit at that. Of course he did. Tui and La were still with her. They were old and fearsome spirits, each thousands upon thousands of years old. They unsettled people by their mere presence. By the time they reached the training field, Katara was already there, screaming at Pakku.

"What is going on here?" Arnook asked as he followed his daughter. He scowled, looking down at the field. Yue shot him a look, but did not speak.

"He refuses to teach Aang," both Katara and Yue managed to say in perfect unison. Katara's was enraged. Yue's was annoyed.

"He is a powerful man, and he is the leader of the waterbenders of this city..." Arnook said. "There is little I can do. This is his jurisdiction."

"What are you saying, that the only way I'm going to get him to teach _THE AVATAR_ waterbending is to apologize for having the audacity of learning while being a girl?" Katara asked.

"I'm afraid so," Arnook said, sadly. Yue turned away from her father. Sokka cast glances between Yue and Katara, then ran down to his sister.

Pakku smirked. "I'm waiting?" he said.

"No. You think you're good enough to teach the Avatar? Prove it. See if you can beat a prodigy," she said. Yue's eyes went wide. Katara had just challenged Master Pakku, a grandmaster waterbender by any meaningful measure, to a waterbending duel? She must be mad. Yue began to descend the steps.

"This is crazy, Katara!" Sokka said. "This isn't a fight you can win!"

Katara tore off her heavy coat and threw it at Sokka's face. "I know! I don't care!"

"You don't need to do this," Sokka pleaded. "We can find another teacher for Aang."

"Where?" Katara asked, pulling off her gloves and throwing them aside. "How? When? Who in the world could do it? Besides, I'm not doing this for Aang," her brow drew down into an angry furrow. "Somebody needs to slap some sense into this guy."

She stared angrily at Pakku, who just looked at her, almost pitying. She cast her arms out.

"Well? Aren't you going to fight?"

"Against a pathetic little girl? Please, I have more dignity than that. Go back to the healing huts with the other women, where you belong," Pakku turned and began to walk away.

Yue had just reached the bottom of the steps when Katara let out an inarticulate roar and smashed Pakku in the back with a broad whip of water. Pakku turned, enraged. Yue fell still. She knew what was coming. "You want to fight so badly, do you? Fine. If you want to fight, then study closely."

He surged forward, sliding on a track of ice he conjured from the ground, sliding past her as he began to hurl frozen icicles at her. She deflected many with her bending, then began to counterattack. The fight surged against Katara, and Pakku began to utilize an almost condescendingly elementary trick to trap her. Katara swung her arm as though to bludgeon somebody, and the water trap exploded outward. A huge blob of the water smashed Sokka to the ground, followed by his resigned declaration of 'ow'.

Pakku glared for a moment, then moved on to higher level techniques. He began to attack the ground she walked on. He turned the ice under her into water, he turned her water into ice. She responded by using his own sliding trick against him. He tried to trap her in the floor, but she managed to bend her way out of that, too. "You can't knock me down, Pakku," she shouted.

"I was attempting to end this without harming you," Pakku said. He cast out a hand, and a ripple of water sprang up, flowing around Katara, when it turned to ice. She bent it back into liquid, which she then sent back to him, embedding _him_ solidly as she was. Pakku's eyes widened in surprise. His condescending smirk was gone. He reached wide to his side, and slammed his hands down. The entire platform dissolved into fluid, then he cast his hands skyward once more, and the water leapt up, almost as steam. A final bend, and the steam snapped back into ice, embedding both completely and solidly.

That was Pakku at his strongest. It took the most complicated techniques he had to bring down one untrained girl. He breathed out into the ice, melting a space. From there, he maneuvered until he was in a pocket of water, which he manipulated to bring down the ice, turning it back into its original shape. All, except for a very close cage around Katara. He moved to her, bending the water out of his hair and clothing. "I have to say, girl, that I am impressed. You _are_ an excellent waterbender."

"But you still won't teach me?" she said, her voice still in the grips of rage.

"No," he said. He turned away again. Yue took a step toward him, even though he still hadn't noticed her. She stopped again when Katara rebelled against her prison, using the same, grandmaster level technique which Pakku used, to free herself. She slammed him in the back with a wall of water, which she turned to ice. He immediately responded by sublimating it to steam and sending it back at her in a hail of spears. The spears knocked her back as he advanced, until she stumbled in her defensive bending and fell. The spears held her to the ground, and more yet hung in the air. He was now as angry in his features as she was. "This fight is over. You have lost. And I will not teach your Avatar."

"Don't speak so quickly," Yue said. All eyes, previously locked on the spectacle below, now turned to her. She walked forward with Nannuica's Spear. "The Spirits demand, Pakku. Do you know what the Avatar is?"

"The one who will unite the elements. The peace keeper, the balance tender, all of that spiritual mumbo-jumbo."

"Wrong!" Yue said. She knew that she, in the same breath, was speaking two languages. Her own Yqanuac, and another, the hidden language of Uou. The Spirit Tongue. "He is the great bridge between the worlds. He walks between both, one foot in the physical, one foot in the spiritual. And the spirits demand, Pakku."

Pakku pointed at her. "Don't you claim spirits stand behind your father's politics, little girl."

Yue was angry, but not angry enough to warrant the roar which came from her throat. As aggravated as she was, Tui and La were enflamed. "_THE GIRL DOES NOT SPEAK FOR US! YOU STAND AGAINST OUR REALM. AGAINST OUR BALANCE. YOU WOULD DESTROY THE WORLD WITH YOUR PRIDE. WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS._"

Pakku scowled. "Don't try your cheap theatrics with me, girl."

Yue's hand rose, and the Spear of Nannuica pointed at his heart. Its transparent tip began to shudder and darken, a red cloudiness spreading through it. When she told the gathered petitioners that the spirits did as they willed with her, she was not joking. "_WE DO NOT CARE WHAT YOU BELIEVE. WE DO NOT CARE WHAT LAWS YOU FOLLOW. THE AVATAR IS VITAL. TIME IS SHORT. TEACH THE AVATAR."_

"I will not fall to your political maneuvers, Arnook. End this game at once," Pakku demanded. Then stopped, when the ground under his feet began to buckle. He began to sink into it, and his furious attempts to bend his way free earned no purchase.

"_YOU WILL LISTEN, PROUD, IGNORANT MAN. YOU WILL DO YOUR DUTY TO DESTINY. FAIL, AND YOU WILL SUFFER. YOU ARE OLD. YOU ARE MORTAL. YOU CAN DIE. YOU WILL DIE. WHEN YOU DO, WE WILL REMEMBER. YOU WILL BE INSTALLED AS A BRICK INTO THE WELL OF REGRETS, TO CONTEMPLATE YOUR FAILURES FOR ALL TIME. YOU CANNOT FIGHT US. YOU MADE US YOUR GODS, TO PROTECT YOU. NOW, SEE AS YOUR GODS ABANDON YOU,_" Yue said, suddenly extremely alarmed. "No, no, don't do this. Not now..." she glanced over to Katara, who was still under threat of impalement, even as Pakku was now trapped to his waist in that not-water. She staggered, one uneven step at a time, to Katara, and looked down at the blue soapstone necklace. She turned to Pakku, down her spear which had never went off of him. "Let him go. Please. He needs to see this."

In a flash, Tui and La were gone, back to their den. The not-water became water, and Pakku hoisted himself onto the she floor. Yue dropped the spear, which returned to its usual, transparent state. Pakku carefully and cautiously moved past her, and reached down to Katara's neck. A snap of torn cloth, and then he held it close to his eyes. "But this... this is impossible. This is my necklace."

"It's mine!" Katara shouted. "Give it back!"

Pakku's smug look was completely gone. There was a bit of disbelief, but more than that, behind those dark blue eyes was a haunted man. "I made this necklace sixty years ago... for the love of my life. For Kana."

Pakku's other fist opened, and all of the spears splashed into water. His voice quavered, and he now sounded every one of his seventy seven years. Sokka, now fairly certain that there wasn't going to be any more potentially dangerous waterbending going on in the near future, came to Yue's side and helped her to her feet, while Katara got up to a crouch, still breathing heavy for her exertions. "You were going to marry Gran-gran?" she asked, a bit bewildered.

"I carved this necklace for your grandmother when we got engaged. I thought... I thought we would have so many happy years together. I truly loved her," Pakku said, sitting on the rough ice like a lost child. Aang moved next to Arnook, looking thoroughly confused.

"But she couldn't live like that. Not here, in the North. It was an arranged marriage, wasn't it?" Katara asked. Yue felt a stab of guilt in her heart as she looked at Sokka. She turned away quickly, trying to hide the pain in her eyes. Katara moved to Pakku's side. "She couldn't let old customs and old thinking direct her life. So she left behind everything she had. It must have taken a lot of courage."

Pakku sighed, then reached into his pocket and looked long at another small, round object for a long time, before putting it back and handing Katara her grandmother's necklace. "I understand. For a long time, I didn't, but now I do," he said. He rose up as Yue backed away from Sokka's support. He looked a bit confused. Pakku looked to Arnook. "I was wrong. It wasn't my place to question my High Chief. Water is change; I've neglected that for far too long. We must grow or die. Any who would fight, I will teach them."

"Even me? Even a girl?" Katara asked. Pakku suddenly smirked again. This time, it wasn't the least bit patronizing.

"You're the first student in fifty years who could actually put up a fight on her first day of training," he said. She brightened.

"Does that mean...?"  
"You and the Avatar will be here first thing in the morning for training. Is that clear?"

"Perfectly."

But Yue's heart was already breaking. Water was change, but it was too late for her. She pulled away from Sokka completely and ran off into the city. She had to be away from him. She could only hurt him. She found her way to a bridge that overlooked one of the side canals, and curled up, her back against the wall, trying very hard not to cry. It was very hard, and her breath came out in shudders.

Footsteps pulled her eyes up. "What do you want from me?" she asked as Sokka approached from one edge of the bridge. He just stared at her, concern plain and unmasked on his face.

"Nothing. Look, I just want you to know that... well, you're beautiful, and I never thought a girl like you would even notice a guy like me," he said, his voice quivering a bit.

"You don't understand," she said quietly, bleakly.

"No, I think I do understand," he said, sitting down next to her. His eyes focused on something far away. "It's because you're a princess, while I'm just some Southern Water Tribe peasant."

"You're the son of the chief. That would make you a prince," Yue pointed out. Sokka mulled the idea over a moment, then that goofy grin, that glorious grin came back for a moment.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"But that's not it. Sokka..." she tried to find the kindest words she could.

"No, it's okay," he said, standing up, and hoisting her level with him. "You don't need to say anything. I guess... I guess I'll see you around."

When Sokka turned away, Yue gave up, and acted on the impulse that she'd held since that first afternoon when he shared all of those wonderful things with her. She grabbed him and locked him in a passionate embrace, a deep, drowning kiss. When she pulled back, Sokka's face was one of shock.

"I... bwah... glahr..." he said, before getting something to come out coherent. "Okay, now I'm really confused. Happy, but confused."

"I do like you. I mean, you're a wonderful person, and you've done more for me than I can ever truly express, but we can't be together. And not for the reasons you think," she said. She pulled down the neck of her coat, showing him her dark secret. A necklace, carved of soapstone, laying against her throat. A collar. "I'm engaged. I'm sorry."

Sokka did something she didn't expect. He pulled her close, into a hug which didn't hold passion, but a great deal of empathy. It was warm, comfortable, and safe. She just let it ease into her, like the fire on the coldest of days. "There's no reason we can't be friends," he said. But she could tell, his heart wasn't in it. When she pulled back, she forced a smile onto her face.

"No reason at all," she said. But he wasn't looking at her. He reached up into the sky, and then examined her hand. She frowned. "What is it?"

"Ash," he said, his face growing, fittingly, ashen. "Where I'm from, winds from the north blow warm air to the poles. I can assume the inverse happens up here?" she nodded. "When smoke mixes with snow, it falls looking like this," he said, showing his hand full of that black, smudgy stuff. "Depending on the winds, it gave us warning."

"Warning of what?" Yue asked.

"The Fire Nation is coming. And they'll be here soon," Sokka clambered up the facade and stuck an ungloved hand above the level of the roof.

"What do you mean the Fire Nation is coming? Are you sure?" she asked.

"Positive. The last time I saw snow like this was when they killed my mother," Sokka said, his expression hard. He dropped back down onto the bridge. "From the wind, they'll be here soon. A month on the outside. Probably two weeks."

"Are you saying...?" she asked.

Sokka nodded. "We have to get the Tribe ready for war. They're going to lay siege to the North."


	11. The Siege of the North

**Iroh has seen things. And done stuff. And he knows knowledge. And he speaks in foreshadowing.**

* * *

"We're making good time. The fleet is in order," Zhao said, laying out the maps. Iroh had seen them; they were woefully inaccurate. Many of them referenced parts of the city which didn't exist, or places which were mirrored, smaller, or larger than they actually were. If Iroh really wanted to, he could have drawn up a proper map from memory, but he had no inclination to. The Water Tribes had been good to him. They helped him make sense of a difficult change in his life, even if they did so without knowing who he was. He would not betray them, especially not to an irreverent madman like Zhao.

"How many are the fleet?" Iroh asked.

"The White Dragon Fleet was supposed to be one hundred twelve ships, but four came down with engine failure as we launched," Zhao said unhappily. Iroh smiled inside. His decision to 'hire' those Whalesh 'mechanics' hadn't worked as well as he'd hoped, but every ship not in the fight was good news for Iroh. Zhao smiled. "Of course, that leaves us with a fortuitous number of ships. I dare say, this will be a blessed expedition."

"If you say so, Zhao," he said. Iroh glanced around the room. For the first time, Iroh and Zhao were alone. The other generals and captains were dealing with their own issues. "Why are you going to the North Pole? It is a fools errand. There are hundreds of waterbenders waiting there."

"There are, but they won't be of consequence," Zhao said, dismissively. Iroh scowled. Could Zhao really be that much of an idiot? Iroh would like to believe so, but Ozai didn't suffer idiots well or gently. "And we'll be heading to the North Pole because that is where the Avatar is heading. I was not lying to you when I brought you back into the fold. The Avatar has to learn waterbending, before all other elements, and the only place with a suitable teacher would be in the North."

"Where did you hear this?" Iroh asked. He knew more about the lore of the Avatar, amongst many other topics, than anybody alive. That Zhao could hold this sort of information was a little confusing. Zhao smirked, and pulled a wide scroll out of a drawer. He opened it. And kept opening it. Paper furled away, almost like magic, unceasing and unending, out of its roll to an impossible length. And on this paper, Iroh could recognize the names. Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, Yangchen. Avatars, all of them. But the names went on. Susano, Touph, Uamannaq, Hiatsu. Dozens of names, of Avatars from a millenia ago. No, not dozens, hundreds. Iroh's eyes went wide. "What is this?" he asked.

"Several years ago, I found a library which is said to exist in the schism between the physical and spiritual worlds. This great library held every piece of information which ever existed. There were a few things I managed to bring out with me. This was one of them," he opened the scroll even more. It probably could have covered the entire floor of the room, if it had been spread out more carefully. The last name, before the paper stopped unfurling, was in red ink. "It is a history of every Avatar to ever exist. From the very first; Huitzilocticlan. The pattern always runs the same. Fire, air, water, earth. From the beginning, and forward through the ages. He cannot learn in any other order. A firebender would have to learn air before water, and then earth. This current Avatar is an airbender, so before he can learn earth or firebending – as though anybody in the world would teach him firebending – he will have to learn waterbending. And the North is the only place in the world which still has waterbenders.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Iroh said idly.

"It doesn't matter what you think," Zhao said, testily. He began to roll the scroll back up. It took a while. "In truth, this document has about outlived its usefulness. It's told me everything I need to know about the Avatar; I won't be paying any 'spirit price' for something that's worthless."

"You would not dare," Iroh said, his anger welling up. "If you destroy that document, you are destroying an irreplaceable part of Fire Nation history. You are destroying the proof that even with our struggles and strife, we were still great even when our nation was weak and suffering. It will be treason of the highest order, and I will make sure you find punishment for it," he said. He leaned a bit closer. "In this world, or the next."

Zhao paused, a surprised look on his face. Then that smirk came back, but this time, it was much less steady. "I wasn't going to destroy it. Let it collect dust somewhere, while Wan Shi Tong fumes for an eternity."

Iroh knew Zhao was lying. He placed the scrolls back in the hidden chamber. "You said that wasn't the only thing you learned," Iroh said.

"I also learned the physical bodies of the spirits of the Sea and Moon. When I said that the waterbenders would not be of consequence, I was not being arrogant."

Iroh moved so his back was to the dresser. A twist of his fingers, then he moved away. "I suppose you won't elaborate until the time is right?" Iroh asked. Zhao smiled.

"You'll know what you need to, old man," he said. "And you'll need to know it, when it happens. Now, if there's nothing else?"

Iroh gave Zhao a nod, the grandest courtesy he could allow, and moved out of the room, his hands tucked into his sleeves. He wandered into the bowels of the ship, stopping briefly in a corridor outside an empty room where an Imperial firebender was practicing his movements and breathing.

"Are you well, nephew?" Iroh asked quietly. The firebender turned, and pulled off his helmet. Zhao's face was battered and bruised, and had changed from weeks of lacking his usual care. His face bore a sparse beard, and his usually shaved head was now covered with a short layer of dark hair. The tail he wore now hung down the back of his head. "I was worried."

"I am alright, Uncle," Zuko said.

"You were badly hurt," Iroh said. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

"This is the last chance I have to get the Avatar before Zhao. I have to take it," he said, putting the death's-head helmet back on. He paused, briefly, and pulled out the plate on the front. "You didn't need to do this, Uncle," he said quietly.

"No nephew of mine is going to stow away on an enemy ship without backup," Iroh said. Zuko made a face at the word 'enemy' but otherwise, gave a small, relieved smile.

"Thank you, Uncle," Zuko said.

At the end of the hall, Iroh could hear a door being wound open. "Somebody's coming," he said. Zuko put his mask back on. "Stay hidden until we reach the North Pole, and I'm sure the Avatar will be yours."

Zuko nodded, and went back to his forms. Not the flashy, offense driven forms of most firebenders; no, Zuko was moving through the forms which Iroh used. Forms of defense and counterattack, forms which allow a prudence of force. Forms which the modern age forgot. Iroh smiled. "Good luck," he said to his nephew, as he walked down the hall. He reached into his sleeve, and felt the long, but unnaturally warm casing of a spirit scroll. Zhao would not be needing it anymore. And there was much Iroh was eager to learn. Because he didn't have much time. The Siege of the North was coming. The Avatar was waiting.

* * *

Arnook stared into the distance. The horizon was dotted with those ships. Those great metal behemoths with which the Fire Nation commanded the seas. Well, they told themselves that. Many from the capitol didn't know how something made of metal could possibly float, but then again, most of the people he had inherited rule over still believed that sneezing was a spirit trying to invade one's nose. He had other concerns. "Move us closer. See if they're willing to parlay."

"Of course," Pakku said, sweeping his arms forward. The gentle wave took the punt forward, until it came close to the prow of the largest ship, the one which steamed well ahead of the others. Both the High Chief and the master waterbender stared upward. "I still think this is a foolish idea."

"It may be foolish, but I'm not willing to throw my people into war without first trying to find a peaceful solution," Arnook said. He cupped his hands to his mouth and began to shout. "I seek a parlay with the master of your ship!"

A tirade returned to Arnook, one he had absolutely no idea the meaning of. It was all in Huojian, arrogant and a bit angry. Then, when Arnook was sharing a worried glance with Pakku, a second, more gravely voice sounded. "He is willing to talk," it said in fluent Yqanuac.

"You address High Chief Arnook of the Northern Water Tribe," Arnook shouted. "Why have you assembled this fleet? What is your purpose in these waters?"

Another tirade, and a man in red and black armor stood upon the edge of the prow, gesticulating furiously. The response, in that other voice, wasn't nearly so violent. "He says he's here to conquer your nation and exterminate your way of life. I'm really very sorry about this."

"Is there some sort of agreement we can come to?" Arnook asked. Pakku just shook his head. "Surely, there is some sort of concession..."

"I wouldn't try that. Zhao is a very impatient and easily goaded man. He'll probably try to assassinate you in the next few minutes," the gravely voice said. Pakku and Arnook shared a look. Who could possibly be so brazen as to say those things on the enemy's vessel?

"I think somebody is playing with our minds," Pakku said.

"Either that, or they have a prisoner aboard who is translating for them," Arnook said. He turned back to 'Zhao' and the ship. "Who are you? Are you a prisoner on this ship?"

"I'm just an old traveler, who's been away from the North Pole for a very long time. And a prisoner... I guess I am, but you shouldn't worry about that. They're loading the catapults now, so you'd better get out of here. But say something loud and angry before you do so they don't get suspicious," the voice returned.

Arnook and Pakku shared another look, then Arnook turned one last time to the ship. Modulating his voice to sound furious, he shouted. "Don't worry! I'll send somebody to rescue you if I can, and deal with that tyrant Zhao!"

Pakku then began to bend the punt back away from the fleet, but after only a few moments, a streak of fire leapt into the sky, arcing down toward them. Pakku blindly cast up a hand behind him, and a plume of water shot straight up, engulfing the fire ball, before snapping into ice and dragging it down. "With that, Chief Arnook, I think it's safe to say you've received a declaration of hostility."

"We should get back to the walls. They'll be at our gates by the afternoon," Arnook said. He shook his head. "Why is it that everybody defaults to warfare?"

"Because that is the age we live in," Pakku said.

"Are your students up to the task?" Arnook asked.

"The Avatar has grasped all of the necessary rudiments to be a proficient waterbender. If I could, I'd invest more time in that girl, Katara. She was not exaggerating when she called herself a prodigy."

"And the rest?"

"The rest will do their duty," Pakku said. "If we can hold until nightfall, well, we'll show the Fire Nation that they set with the sun, while we rise with the moon."


	12. Such Quiet Dread

**Remember how everybody's just a little bit older than they were in the series? Yue isn't too happy about that right now. I might have made Hahn into a monster. Ah well. We also see Sokka being noble, and Iroh knows things that don't seem to make sense.**

* * *

Sokka stood with the other men of the tribe. The waterbenders, universally male, had their own barracks, and the soldiers here, also universally male, waited at attention. Arnook had only just returned, with a sour look of anger on his face. "The day we've feared since the black snow has finally arrived. Because of our forewarning by the emissary of the Southern Water Tribe, we were not caught unprepared. But regardless, the Fire Nation now approaches our gates with hellfire and damnation walks with them," he said. Yue, standing near the back of the room, gave a long, sad look at Sokka before turning away. He still felt a tug in his heart every time he saw her. He claimed he could 'just be friends' with her, but he knew that he was anything but.

"It is with great sadness and trepidation that I have called forth the greatest single muster of the Water Tribe's warriors since the time of the Great War which erupted at the death of Avatar Uammanaq. As I look around this room, I know in my heart that come this evening, some of these faces will vanish from the Water Tribe forever. But they will never vanish from our memories, and the glory, the knowledge that they protected their home and their people will echo the eternity," Arnook turned and faced the open balcony, which looked upon the entire city, and beyond it, the sea. He cast his hands up in supplication. "As we enter this battle for our existence, I implore you! Tui, spirit of the ocean! La, spirit of the moon! Be with us this day!"

A bellow was uttered by every soldier in the room, except Sokka. He tried to join in, but just managed to get one out after everybody else had stopped. A few people looked at him like he was an idiot, but Arnook was already turning back to the soldiers. "I need volunteers for a dangerous mission," he said quietly.

Sokka's arm shot up. "Count me in."

"Sokka!" Yue whispered, alarmed. He put on a brave face. If he couldn't be with her, the least he could do was protect her. Others began to move near him, while others backed away. Arnook nodded.

"You must know that not many of you will return. Those who would undertake this task, step forward and receive my mark," Arnook said. Sokka was the first to step forward. Arnook dipped a finger into a bowl and marked three lines on Sokka's head. From the smell, it was probably in tiger seal blood. Hardly the most disgusting thing he'd had on his head. Sokka walked over to the balcony, and watched the sun slowly dipping toward the horizon, over the dozens, perhaps hundreds of Fire Nation ships.

"Nervous?" Katara's voice came from nearby. She was standing on an adjacent balcony, looking the same way. She squinted. "What is that on your head?"

"I'm going on a mission," Sokka said, nonchalantly. In truth, he was nervous enough that he had to hold the rail to not have his knees knock, but he knew he was doing the right thing. Pakku was also staring at the sea, but was silent. Aang came out of the building and stood next to Katara. The whole gang was here, it seemed.

"A mission? You?" she asked, incredulous. "You should leave the fighting to the real soldiers."

"I'm a real soldier!" Sokka complained.

"You're a teenage boy who's in over his head," Katara said.

"Katara, I'm sure he'll..." Aang said, but Sokka cut him off.

"And what are you doing here, then? Are you just going to stand back and let the Fire Nation invade the North Pole?"

"No, I'm going to fight them with everything I have," she said.

"And why shouldn't I?"

"Because there are others who can do it, and you're too yo..." her expression became flat. "Oh, you think your so clever, don't you?"

"I have my moments," Sokka said proudly.

Pakku watched as the ordinary soldiers, who hadn't taken Arnook's task, filed out to the walls. "This stillness before the battle; it is unbearable. Such quiet dread fills the air."

Aang snapped his staff into its glider form. "I wasn't there when the Fire Nation attacked my people last time," there was an expression on the boy's face that Sokka had not seen for a long time, not since that day in the Southern Air Temple. Abject rage. "This time, I'm going to make a difference."

The Avatar leapt off the balcony and flew across the length of the city, disappearing into the confusion of the wall, only to have a huge white form separate from it and move off into the distance. Pakku nodded, and turned to his room. "Alright, students and soldiers. You know what you have to do. To the walls and your positions."

"What about me, master Pakku?" Katara asked.

"You have your orders, Katara," Pakku said. There was a different note in his voice than when they first met him. This time, when Pakku spoke to her, it was with respect.

"Sokka, come here!" Arnook called. Sokka returned to the group, much smaller now. Only a handful of the soldiers remained. He knew the names of some. Hahn, Tohnai, and Luuq. All were annoying. When they were finally gathered, Arnook addressed them. "Men, you will be infiltrating the Fire Nation navy, which means you'll all be wearing one of these uniforms," he said. Sokka's eyes shot up, and then he found himself laughing when the 'example' soldier came out, wearing the most ridiculous uniform Sokka had ever seen. Contrary to the basic and practical, if not very protective armors the firebenders and soldiers wore every time Sokka needed to give them a drubbing, this thing was stylized and overly, oh-so-unbearably pointy. Hahn turned to him.

"What's your problem?" he demanded.

"Fire Nation uniforms don't look anything like that!" he said between laughs. Hahn scowled.

"Of course they do. These uniforms were taken from real Fire Nation officers," he said.

"When? Like, a hundred years ago?" Sokka asked.

"Eighty five," Arnook said dryly. Sokka stepped forward.

"The Fire Nation doesn't wear shoulder spikes anymore. The whole ensemble is more streamlined. And there's no metal on the chest. None at all, in fact. They use boiled leather to resist impacts. And the helmet: don't get me started on the helmet," he rolled his eyes. "If any Fire Nation soldier saw you running around in that thing, you might get the drop on them, but only because they were laughing too hard to fight back."

Hahn turned to Arnook. "How can we trust this interloper? He doesn't know his place," he turned to Sokka. "You speak boldly for an outsider."  
Arnook was not amused. "He is from our sister tribe and is a capable warrior. I value his input, especially since he, unlike any of you, has actually fought the soldiers of the Fire Nation and won."

Sokka grinned smugly at Hahn. Hahn looked like he was ready to punch something. Yue, still in the back of the room, was staring pointedly away. Sokka didn't understand it. He'd just schooled the uppity brat, and she didn't even have a glance to throw at him. Arnook continued. "Our first objective is to locate and identify the leadership of the fleet," he said.

"Oh, that'd be Zhao," Sokka interrupted. All eyes turned to him. Arnook simply nodded. "Middle aged, big sideburns. Bigger temper."

"My sources were correct, then," Arnook said lightly. He clasped a hand on Sokka's shoulder. "I want you to tell everything you know to Hahn, since he is leading this mission. Hahn, show Sokka some respect. I expect better behavior from my son-in-law."

Arnook left, to deal with whatever other metaphorical fires needed to be put out. Sokka turned to Hahn. "You?" he asked. "She married you?"

Hahn smirked. Sokka thought he was in need of a spine-punching. "Yeah, what of it?" he asked.

Sokka just stared at him for a moment. "You?"

* * *

"We're here," Iroh said at the door. A number of the firebenders within looked at him. One of them actually got up and joined him. "_Discretion is key, Prince Zuko,_" he said in Yqanuac. "_You will have little time to reach the spot I mentioned before people would be alerted to your presence_."

"Slow down, Uncle, I can't understand you when you talk that fast," Zuko said.

"_There is a spot, fourty bu from the Red Stone of Night_," Iroh said quickly, ignoring his nephew's plight. "_It is marked by a gentle vortex. Beneath it is a cave, and beyond that cave is a passage to the inner courtyard_," he paused, taking Zuko by the shoulders. "_I cannot say where the Avatar will be, but I know that a cave north of the Hall of Many is a highly spiritual place. Please, Prince Zuko, promise me you will not defile it_."

Zuko took of his helm as they entered the skiff launch. "_I'm not here to deface some hokey religious shrines. All I want is the Avatar_," he said. It would have to do.

"Listen," Iroh said, reverting to Huojian since the room was empty of others to listen in. "When you fish for pentapus, you must use a tightly woven net or it will squeeze through the tiniest hole and escape," Zuko cast him a look as he readied the boat.

"I don't need any of your stories right now, Uncle," he said.

"I'm sorry, but I nag you because... well, ever since I lost Lu Ten..." Iroh said. Zuko placed his hand on Iroh's shoulder. There was some circularity in that.

"You don't need to say it," he said.

"I think of you as my own son," he said. Just like the vision had said, forty years ago. A brother's son as son, a son as brother's son. One by one his visions were proving true.

"I know, Uncle," Zuko said softly, kindly. He turned to the boat. "We'll meet again, after I have the Avatar."

As Zuko pushed off into the water, Iroh shouted after him. "Remember your breath of fire, your direction of chi! It will save your life!"

"I know, Uncle."

"And keep your ears warm! You'll catch your death of cold," he shouted. This time, Zuko didn't shout back. From the open gate, Iroh could see that the bombardment had begun. Hundreds of great balls of fire were searing through the air. How many good, decent people would die today? How many could he save if he succeeded? How many more would perish if he failed?

Iroh made his way back through the ship with a speed belying his age and shape. He finally made it up to the bridge, and looked out upon the carnage as Zhao smiled upon it. Some of the fireballs were caught with great skill by the waterbenders, but enough of them got through, and caved in sections of the wall. Others still overshot the wall entirely and landed in buildings. Every time one did, Iroh had to restrain himself so he didn't wince. He took his place next to Zhao.

"The twilight is approaching," Iroh said. "I advise you halt your attack; waterbenders draw their power from the moon, and with the full moon tonight, they will be especially powerful. Any attempts to breach their walls tonight would only end in needless bloodshed. You should pull back and resume at daybreak."

Zhao smiled that heinous smile at Iroh. It was a smile of a murder standing over his sleeping victim. "Oh, I'm well aware of the moon problem. I'm taking steps to rectify it. But for now... daybreak. Direct the men to protect the ships. I want to see what these people have in mind for a counterattack."

* * *

Sokka had an axe to grind. A boomerang, actually, and it was in dire need of sharpening. But even as he worked at it, he couldn't take his eyes off of Hahn. Blaggard he was, he was directing the people in this task in ways that even Sokka could tell were suicidally wrong. Sokka stood, preparing to say speak his mind, but Yue entered the room.

"It's almost time," she said.

"Good," Hahn laughed. "We'll show Admiral Cao what it means to be a Tribesman!"

"Zhao! His name is Zhao!" Sokka said.

"Whatever. Yue, come and wish your husband good luck," he said. Yue scowled, but moved to him. When she did, he pulled her into a very close embrace, kissing her powerfully. Sokka's eye began to twitch. Doubly so when he saw that Yue's fists were clenched white-knuckle tight in quiet resistance. When he was done, and utterly oblivious to the misery on her face, he swatted her in the rump and laughed. "That'll do, woman. I gotta tell ya', Soaka..."

"Sokka," he said, trying to keep a lid on himself.

"Whatever. I've... courted... a lot of ladies, but Yue is the _finest_," he said. Yue, still on her way out the door, went red. Sokka guessed not with embarrasment. "And she comes with the best perks."

"Perks?" Sokka said. Hahn was making it very easy for him to justify punching him in the face.

"Don't get me wrong, she's nice and all. Wonderful body, let me tell you," he laughed. "But having the Chief in a headlock and nailing his daughter is just the kind of life I like."

Sokka now fought with every whit of his being not to do something stupid. It was hard, because just about every whit of his being wanted to do something stupid. "Yue is wasted on a monster like you," he said through gritted teeth.

"Excuse me? I thought I just heard you say something to me?" Hahn said. "Oh, right, why would you possibly think you have that right? You're just some pissant peasant from the other side of the planet. You know nothing of the real world, little hamster. What could you possibly know about the intricacies of politics in this city?"

"I know you're a self-absorbed ass who has no soul," Sokka said.

"Yeah, well this self-absorbed ass is starting a dynasty," Hahn said. "In a year, my children will start coming along, and I will be the next chief of this tribe. And oh, the fun I'll have. You should have heard her screaming, peasant."

Oh, to Hell with it.

Sokka gave in and did the stupid thing, and he didn't care any more. His leg lashed forward, smashing right into Hahn's... valuables. Hahn's eyes rolled up into his head, and he dropped to his knees. Sokka followed it up by smashing his fists into Hahn's face and chest a few times before some of Hahn's cronies dragged him off. Still, Sokka continued hurling vulgarities and curses at the demon until Arnook came running into the room.

"ENOUGH!" he shouted. He jabbed out a finger at Sokka. "You're off the mission. Everyone else, mobilize. This is your only chance."

The others laughed as the threw him to the floor. They gathered up Hahn and his wounded... pride... and got moving out of the room. "Yeah, that's right, peasant. You stay there on the floor," he said. His voice was a little higher than usual. "It'll be me who takes down Admiral Jo, and me who gets all the glory."

"It's Admiral Zhao," he said quietly. The others didn't even pay attention as they filed out of the room. Arnook watched them with hard eyes, then offered his hand to Sokka.

"That is something I will always regret," he said. "Marrying my only child to that brash idiot. If only I had Pakku on my side back then... Sokka, I didn't take you off the mission because of your outburst. I was going to anyway."

"What? Why?"  
"I have a special task in mind for you, something that I have confidence that you, above any other under the heavens, will see through," Arnook said.

"Let me guess, you want me to muck out the latrines?" Sokka said bitterly.

"I want you to protect my daughter," Arnook said. He smirked at Sokka's gobsmacked look. "I know how you feel about her. It's written all over your face. And now, all over Hahn's groin as well. I have absolute faith that you will not allow any harm to come to her."

"Yeah," he said, his voice creaking a bit, and not from puberty for once. "I can do that."

"Good. Now go. She's waiting for you."

Sokka almost ran out of the room, and barreled straight into Yue. He just stared at her, and she stared back. Tears were in her eyes. He pulled her close, and she let out a sob into his shoulder. "It's okay. You had no choice," Sokka said.

"I still hate it," she said quietly.

He breathed deep, trying to keep the tears from leaking from his own eyes. "Don't worry anymore. I'll keep you safe. I promise."

* * *

Zuko took a breath, long overdue. The cold assaulted him, and he pulled himself the rest of the way out of the water. Iroh hadn't mentioned the ceiling. Or how long the tunnels were. But it didn't matter. He was here, now. He shivered uncontrollably as he tried to look at the city, to find where he was headed. It was no use. He couldn't focus. Breath of fire. He took a few deep breaths, and began to channel that heat throughout his body. Uncle was right. The Breath of Fire was useful.

"Where are you, Avatar," he asked. The city stretched out below him, impenetrably dense. He could be anywhere. He felt a stab of uncertainty. Was Uncle right? Was this a fool's errand? How would he even know where to go? He sat down for a moment to consider, when he felt something in his pocket, something he hadn't put there. He pulled it out.

Zuko unfolded the paper, and goggled at the map. It was drawn in Iroh's hand, and seemed to be a perfect map of this city. "What is this?" he asked nobody. "How could you possibly have...?"

He decided it didn't matter. He was so close. His honor was within reach. All he needed to do was get the Avatar, and bring him in. He looked to the sun, and found it vanished beyond the horizon completely. The only light left was the full moon. Zuko's eyes widened when he saw that big beast, that white bison land near the palace. The Avatar had to be there. Renewed in his resolve, he began to clamber down into the city. The Avatar was here. His destiny was at hand.


	13. Spirit Oasis

**Did it bug anybody else that Pakku did absolutly bloody nothing when the moon came out in the cartoon? Yeah, he did stuff, here. Important stuff. But Zhao is smart, so stuff wasn't enough.**

* * *

Pakku smiled as the sun finally slipped below the horizon in one direction, and the moon appeared in the heavens. "The night is ours," Pakku shouted. "Everyone! Attack the Fire Nation!"

As though of one body, the waterbenders began to surge forward from the walls. Not all of them, of course; many remained behind to restore the wall to its proper strength, but a powerful force of his most skilled and mighty practitioners, they moved to the fight. Fire sprayed from the decks of the ships. Good, even though it would make the defenders' jobs harder, it meant that the Fire Nation would get no sleep tonight. Pakku felt that power swell in him as the full moon came full into view. "Now, let's see if you can handle this?" he said, his voice rising triumphant.

With a twist of his wrists, a great wave rose up from the water, curling and crashing down on the deck of a ship several miles away. It was at the limits of his abilities, but the effect was devastating. Swamped under so many tonnes of water, the ship had two options, drown, or snap. It chose to snap. The back half was torn away from the front, and both slipped under the hateful waves. Pakku made sure the waves were particularly hateful.

He moved onto the next ship in the line, but this time, the firebenders caught wise to him. As the wave approached, they worked together, with a massive blast of flame to turn the water into steam. At that distance, Pakku couldn't quite reach the steam and hold it like he could water. The wave slipped harmlessly under the boat. He would need a new trick. Elsewhere in the fleet, his waterbenders were having similar mixed results in their attacks. Some rose a ship on spears of ice, trapping it out of the fight. Another managed to tear a hole in a hull, leaving the ship to slowly sink. But then, the Fire Nation was quite keen on defending themselves. At this distance, Pakku couldn't be sure, but more likely than not, some of his students were being burned alive, surrounded by water.

"Intruders! Ambush from the cliffs!" a call rang out. Pakku turned. Hundreds of lizards ran down the sheer cliff walls, each carrying four or five soldiers on its back. Arnook's voice came from the wall, as he dove off the wall in his armor.

"Leave the wall!" the Chief cried. "Protect the healers!"

Pakku turned from his place and prepared a massive tentacle of water to sleep the intruders off the cliff, but another cry interrupted him as the water was still rising to a useful level. "More Mongoose Dragons on the cliffs!" Pakku turned, and saw that they were descending directly toward him. Surrounded. Well wasn't that just lovely? Despite him, the old man got a smile on his face. Finally a real test of his waterbending prowess.

* * *

Sokka was panting and covered in sweat, despite the frigid night. The cutting of the air behind him told him his boomerang was close, so he caught it without a glance. A smash with the club brought the soldier low. Where in the Hell had all of these soldiers come from? Was there some sort of breach? He turned, looking back to the doorway. "Are you alright, Yue?" he asked.

"Where did they all come from?" she asked. "The city is supposed to be impenetrable."

"Only Ba Singh Se claims it's impenetrable, and it was penetrablated. I mean, penetrated. I mean, it was busted into," Sokka said. "Tui La, I'm tired."

"Don't swear," she said. Her eyes darted to the courtyard above. The soldiers and firebenders hadn't gotten that far. Not yet, anyway. "Come one, Sokka. You promised you'd keep me safe."

"Yeah, and I thought that meant I'd be able to sit in the palace and eat blubber tonight," he complained lightly. Still, he got to his feet despite his weariness. The soldiers groaned lightly, but other soldiers were coming. Better soldiers than he. They could deal with these people. "Where can we go?"

"Sokka!" his sister's voice came through the din. He couldn't see where she was, until she surged up over the level of the roofs on a wave from the canals. He couldn't quite believe his eyes. Had his awkward, meek little sister disappeared? Who was this powerful waterbender? He didn't have time to ponder long, because she leapt off the wave. "Aang couldn't stop them," she said. "He's on his way back now."

Suiting action to word, Appa landed with a thud on the courtyard. Its white hair was somewhat singed in places, and patchy red in others. Aang, who was obviously as tired as everybody else, nevertheless leapt off of his mount and began to ask it those questions he always did. "Are you alright buddy? How bad does it hurt? Can you still move?"

Appa answered as it always did, with a low groaning sound. It began to saunter toward the palace, favoring one of its legs. Luckily, it had five others to support it. Aang turned and sat down, his staff leaning over his shoulder. "I couldn't do anything. There were just too many. I'm sorry, everyone." he said.

"We'll find a way, somehow," Sokka said. He turned to his sister. "And how in the Hell did you pull off that little surfing stunt? You've never been able to bend that much at once before. It might have come in handy when those PIRATES were after us!"

"It's the moon!" Katara said, as though finally understanding it herself. "My waterbending has always been more powerful at night, but tonight, it's as though I'm five times stronger than I've ever been!"

Yue nodded. "That makes sense. The legends say that the moon was the first waterbender, and that we learned from it and took on its ways. How it pushed and pulled the tides, how it changed with the passage of time..."

"That's it!" Aang proclaimed.

"What is?"

"The moon spirits! Yue, you can talk to the Moon and Sea spirits, can't you?" he asked.

"Well, they speak through me. It's different."

"But they could help us!" the Avatar said. "They could give us the strength that we need to force the Fire Nation away."

"Don't you think I've been trying?" Yue asked, her voice strained. "I've been shouting at them for the last few hours, but they aren't listening. Aang, I don't know how to contact them."

Aang contemplated a moment, but then he looked back up. "Is there a place, like, a particularly spiritual place that you...?"

"The Spirit Oasis!" Sokka interrupted. All eyes turned to him. Some with annoyance, some with simple confusion. "Yue, you told me that when you were born, you were placed in some Spirit Oasis, and that the spirits brought you back. Where was that?"

"The Avatar is the bridge between the worlds," Katara said. "Maybe he can contact them when you can't?"

"And they could give us the wisdom to win the battle!" Yue said, her voice full of hope.

"Or unleash a crazy amazing spirit attack and wipe out the Fire Nation!" Sokka offered. All eyes turned to him, in utter silence. Somewhere, from where Sokka could not tell, a single cough was heard above the deafening silence. "Or wisdom. Wisdom's good, too."

"Follow me," Yue said. She ran off into the night, north past the palace and into the rough hewn and uncultivated stone. Sokka was close beside her, even as his body begged for some rest. The others did not lag. After the long run, she came upon a small door in the side of the stone. "This is the most spiritual place in the North. Possibly, the entire world."

The scene within was one of abject natural splendor. After a short, curving path, and a short wooden bridge, there was a tiny circular island in the midst of a cave lake. Despite the bleak and unforgiving weather, there was warmth, and light. The water inside the island seemed to glow of its own, and a tree leaned close over the waters. Aang got a big smile on his face and threw himself onto the grass growing on the island.

"I never thought I'd miss grass so much," he said, rolling around in it like a fox.

Katara pulled her coat over her head, and walked forward to the island. "How is this possible?"

"All of the spiritual energy of this land flows through this one point, before moving out into the city, and beyond, into the ocean. It's said that this is one of the few places where the physical and spirit worlds naturally touch," she said. Sokka leaned over and saw two fish swimming in the pond in lazy circles.

"I see what you mean," Aang said, sitting down under the tree. He closed his eyes. "It's so tranquil."

Silence reigned. Aang became still and silent, as Sokka washed off some of the sweat on his arms and face in the water outside the island. He tasted it. It was briny. Weird. Finally, Sokka sat back against a rock, and waited. Yue's curiosity finally got the better of her, though. "Why is he sitting like that?" she asked.

"He's meditating. Trying to cross over into the spirit world. It takes a lot of effort," she said.

"Only if you want to," Sokka said. "If you don't, it's easy as can be."

"Oh, please, you said you didn't remember anything about being in the spirit world."  
"'Said'," Sokka countered. He remembered. He remembered that yellow sky and that impossible terrain. The strange and fearsome things. He remembered the sounds, the smells. He remembered that there was no safe place to go to the bathroom. Katara gave him a confused look.

"Is there any way we can help?" Yue asked.

"How about some quiet?" Aang asked, annoyed. "I can hear everything you people say."

"Sorry, sorry," Katara said. Even Yue looked a little shame-faced. Sokka kept watching Yue. She was so beautiful. And he could never have her. It tore him apart with every breath. Her pale hair and lovely face haunted his dreams. And that was all they could ever have. Dreams. Suddenly, Aang's face became solemn, and his fists slammed together. The tattoos on his head and hands began to glow white.

"What's happening to him?" Yue asked.

"He's in the Avatar State," Katara said. "They're showing him how to cross into the spirit world."

"What will happen to him?" Yue asked.

"Oh, he'll be fine, unless some idiot moves his body," Sokka said. "Can't come back to the world if you lose your body."

Yue looked at her hands, then back at the Avatar. "I think we should call some guards. He's too vulnerable here."

"Don't worry. No matter what comes," Katara said, "I will protect him."

A gout of flame surged from the path, and Katara just managed to get a shield of water in the way before it landed. Sokka bolted to his feet, putting himself in front of Yue. A figure in white clothes walked down the path. Sokka didn't recognize him, until he started to speak.

"_Well, aren't you a big girl, now?_" came Zuko's voice in Tianxia.

"No!" Katara whispered. Zuko finally came into the light. He was not what Sokka expected. His face was altered completely, with a thin beard and short hair. He was almost unrecognizable as the person who had been chasing them for a year.

"_Yes!_" Zuko exclaimed. "_Hand him over, little lady, and I promise you, I won't hurt you_."

"If you want him so badly, come and get him," Katara said. She pulled up the water from the brackish stream into a pair of tentacles which waved from her arms.

Sokka turned to Yue. "We need to get out of here!" he said. "There are probably more coming!"

Yue looked at them for another moment, then back to Sokka, before nodding, and following him as he made a way deeper into the cave, toward a draft. Toward the surface. Away from the impossible glory of the Spirit Oasis.

"I see you've picked up some new tricks," Zuko said. "But don't think you can stand in my way."

She tried her hardest, though. She sent forth attack after attack, and suddenly he was on the defensive. He tried to power through it, but everything his tutors taught him about firebending related to attack; they said nothing about how to turn the momentum of an engagement, how to counterattack, how to defend. He was forced back, his attempts at overpowering her growing feebler and feebler, until she had him completely encased in water which she snap froze.

She walked forward and said something. He couldn't tell what, since she was on the other side of a case of ice. He could feel the cold reaching its insidious tendrils into him. No. He refused. He called forth a breath, just like Uncle always told him to. It popped out a section of ice, which flowed away, freeing his mouth.

"The peasant got herself a master, did she?" he asked. He tried something unorthodox. He directed that heat he felt with his breath throughout his body. The ice cracked and split, and he heaved his way out with a shattering of shards. "Pity he didn't teach you bett– whoa!"

Even before he could finish the word, the girl had turned and was attacking him again. What had happened to this girl? She was a pushover when she faced him the first time, barely able to get out of her own way. Had a year changed her so much? Uncle sprang to mind, and he began to try another approach. Instead of trying to attack through her offense, he tried cutting it apart. This had better results, but it only brought a look of first annoyance, then rage, then utter hatred to the girl's face. Katara surged forward one more time, with a strike which knocked Zuko into the water. He felt an irresistible force hauling him upward, and then snapping solid, his head craned back, his arms out to the side. Helpless.

"I am the last waterbender of the Southern Tribe," Katara said, her voice a touch raw. "I am Katara, the daughter of Kya and Hakoda, granddaughter of Kana. I am protector of the Avatar, teacher of the Avatar. And you? You're just a footnote in history."

Zuko breathed out. It was over. He failed. Completely and utterly. He opened his eyes again, staring up into the heavens. The sky wasn't black anymore. It was turning red. The sun was rising. He breathed faster, deeper, pulling the chi from deep within himself. He directed it outward, and he felt himself sliding out of the prison she had made. He landed on the ground, and Katara's eyes went wide. She bent a wide column of water and sent it raging toward him. He clapped his hand together, extending that chi beyond his fingertips. The column split along that chi, flying past him, even as he struggled against its heft. He stepped forward. Again. Again, and again, each as arduous as the last. He didn't care. She stared, panic now on her features, as he walked right up to her, splitting her strongest attack around him as he did. She broke off, and prepared to do something else, but Zuko moved faster.

A palm strike to the middle of her chest, and she careened into the side of the tree. She lay on the ground, groaning. He lifted her head by her hair, leaning very close to her face. "Listen very closely, waterbender," he whispered. "You set with the moon. I rise with the sun."

She slumped, insensate, to the grass. He moved to the Avatar. Aang. The boy upon whom Zuko's entire destiny rested. He felt a shudder run through him. A tear welled in his good eye, which he forced down quickly. Zuko had him. Zuko had won. Zuko had the Avatar.


	14. The Dark Prince

Zhao smiled the entire night. Iroh was used to being awake for days on end. It wasn't a practice he enjoyed. Still, over the course of the night, he had taken cat-naps in his sleep when the action was particularly far away. He didn't know what was giving Zhao such stamina. Finally, the red light from the east began to spread.

"Ah, daybreak," Zhao said. He had a positively mad gleam in his eyes. "It's time to rewrite history."

"We should press the attack, see if we can reinforce the contingent within the walls," Iroh said.

"Oh, they don't need reinforcement. Take everything and cut a hole through that wall. No matter what it takes."

Iroh frowned. "Are you sure that's wise? If they do that, they will be depleted, and fall when the battle stretches on."

"Oh, come tomorrow, there won't be a battle. We will press through their defenses today, and the city will fall."

"But if come nightfall, they will have the full moon to give them the strength to repel us," Iroh pointed out.

"Oh, I have plans to remove the Moon from the picture," Zhao said, his grin the portrait of insanity. Iroh looked at those eyes, those mad, dangerous eyes. How long ago was it that he saw such eyes in his own reflection? How long had it been since he did what it took to excise them?

"Remove the moon?" Iroh asked. He had a feeling he knew where this was going, however.

"Your fate is here, Admiral Choi!" a voice came from the door. A young Tribesman with a somewhat battered face charged at them with a spear. Zhao idly turned and vaulted the boy over the rail. It was a long fall, and a horrific landing. Iroh averted his eyes from the boy's gruesome fate.

"As I mentioned before," Zhao said, giving almost no indication that somebody had just tried to murder him, "I have the identities of the Moon and Sea spirits. Along with their names, they also included illustrations. These mortal vessels for the spirits can be found... and killed. And that it was my destiny to do so."

Iroh shook his head. "These sorts of things are not to be trifled with. Do you know what happened to the world the last time it lost its moons? All life almost ended."

"Spare me your ill-researched pre-history, old man," Zhao said. "I know how much you fear the spirits, you superstitious old goat pig; I've heard the rumors of your 'journey into the Spirit world'. You are a relic, something that has no relevance to the present. When I kill those spirits, their immortality will pass onto me."

"That isn't how these things work," Iroh said, but Zhao wasn't listening.

"We cut through today, Iroh. Are you coming, or will you stay behind with the injured and useless?" he asked. Iroh sighed. He knew his course. His vision, that dark and horrible nightmare he had lived with for forty years, was coming true. He just had to see if he could steer it away from the consequences he foresaw.

"I will come," he said, his voice low.

"Good. Now stay out of the way of destiny."

* * *

Zuko breathed, and used his chi to warm him. He needed to. Even with the sun in the sky, this place was fatally cold. He looked back at the Avatar, bound and unconscious. There was a catch in his throat. He was so close.

"I finally have you. You're alone, your mine," he said. He wasn't talking to anybody. Maybe he was talking to the Avatar. He didn't know. He didn't care. "I've been waiting for this for so long. Do you know what it's like to lose your home? Not to fire and death, but to edict? To know that everything you ever loved and cared about is still there, but that you can never see it again? That is the greatest torment a man could ever face."

Zuko scrubbed a hand over his short beard and stared out of the cave. The winds howled and sleet slashed through the air. "A blizzard, of course," he said. "It's always something, isn't it? Well, destiny has tried to destroy me before. From the day I was born, I was a child of calamity. I was so weak, that the doctors thought I wouldn't see the sunset. But I fought. I have always fought, Avatar. No matter what the world does to me, I never stop fighting. I've never had anything in my life come easy. I've had to fight for everything I ever had, and that's made me stronger."

He looked over at the boy, his tattoos still glowing softly in the darkness of the cave. What Zuko wouldn't give for something he could light on fire. His breath only warmed him so far. He looked at the Avatar again. So young. So hopeful. "Do you know what it's like to be hated?" Zuko asked. "To be reviled? They call me the Dark Prince, now. Oh, to an Earth ruler, that would probably be a compliment, but to us? That's as much as saying that we have no understanding of Agni at all. That we are fundamentally and cardinally flawed. The people despised me. Not like Azula. Everybody loved her. She was born lucky. A prodigy in firebending, a brilliant mind, and a soul of fire. Everything her big brother lacked. They all said I was lucky to be born. But that'll all change. When I return, with the Avatar, I'll have everything I ever deserved. My nation. My throne. My honor. They're so close."

"They're a lot farther than you think," Aang's voice came. Zuko turned, dropping into a stance, but the Avatar just stared at the Dark Prince. "You keep saying that you want your honor back. I don't think you know what honor is."

"Don't try to escape!" Zuko said.

"Escape where?" Aang asked innocently. How had this child survived so long and remained so... Zuko didn't dare take his eyes off of him. "Why do you want to go back to a place where you say that everybody hated you?"

"Not everybody. They just don't know who I am, what I'm capable of. I'll show them that I can be a great Fire Lord. They'll accept me."

The Avatar's brow drew down. "But if you need to succeed in what is supposedly an impossible task just to get some people to like you, then why would you want them to?" he asked. "Shouldn't you be surrounding yourself with people who accept you even when you're struggling? Even when you fail?"

"Shut up! You don't know anything about me!" Zuko roared.

"I know you're a man of your word," Aang said. "I know you hold yourself to an almost unreachable standard. You don't deserve to be so angry all the time. You deserve better than that."

"My anger is what makes me strong. My anger is who I am."

"No, I don't think it is," the Avatar said. "When you captured me, I told you about Kouzon. He was from the Fire Nation, from Sozin's time. He grew up on the same doctrine that he fed all of his children, all of his soldiers. He was told that hate was strength. But he became an Air Nomad. He learned the truth, that strength is love and acceptance."

"Stop trying to confuse me," Zuko shouted.

"You're not so different from him," Aang said sadly. "And every time I see you, I think of him. The path he could have walked, if he had taken a right instead of a left. What are you going to do to me? When you bring me back to the Fire Nation?"

"I'll present you to my father, and he'll restore my honor and my name," Zuko said. Aang tilted his head.

"How? And then what? Where will you go? What will you do?"

"Agni's burning blood, why won't you ever shut up?" Zuko shouted. A groaning sound came from behind him, and Aang leaned to one side. Zuko got a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Oh, nuts."

The Avatar breathed deep then expelled a gale of wind which slammed Zuko in the chest, sending him skidding across the open ice on his back. Behind him, he could see that beast landing gently on the unstable ground, and the waterbender Katara leaping off of it. He scrabbled to his feet and cast out a stream of fire at her, but she doused it with a wave of freezing cold water, then flicked her leg forward. Zuko didn't have a chance to dodge as the enormous block of ice smashed into his unprotected ribs. The world went away.

* * *

Sokka leaped down and cut Aang's bonds as Katara looked first to Aang, and then back to fallen Zuko. "Hey, this is some good, quality rope... Come on, we don't have much time before the sun goes down," Sokka said.

"I figured it out," Aang said. "The moon and sea spirits. They're in the spirit oasis! They're the spirit koi!"

"That's great. Katara! Come on!"

"I can't leave him here," she said, hovering over Zuko. Sokka gave Aang a look. "His chest is crushed, his breathing is bad. He'll freeze to death, even if the injury doesn't kill him."

"Come on, leave him! Do you really want to have him following us all over the world and try to kill us for the rest of our lives?" Sokka asked.

"You don't really mean that, do you?" Yue asked from the saddle. Two sets of judging, blue, female eyes stared at him, and Sokka turned his to the ground.

"Help me get him into the saddle," Katara said. She had already pulled up the water and was laying healing hands onto him. "Please, don't make me a murderer today."

* * *

**I'm quite happy with both Zuko and Aang in this one.**


	15. Visions of Catastrophe

**Ever expect something to go very, very badly, and find yourself surprised when it actually ends up worse? Iroh's not having a good day.**

* * *

Zhao smashed open the tiny door with a blast of flame, and ducked into the opening into the side of the rock. Iroh, frowning at Zhao's display, followed after, a few steps behind. It had taken most of the day to fight their way up from the city to the courtyard of the palace. From there, a small group cut deeper, sliding past the defenses to the wall of the North Pole's vaunted Spirit Oasis. And now, everything was so close. It had been forty years since he saw this place last. Now, the grimmest of his visions was coming to fruition. Just his once, he begged the spirits, let his visions be wrong. Let there be another way.

"Here they are. 'The great spirits of the moon and sea'," Zhao laughed. He stooped down next to the water and ran his fingers through it. "Of course, they have the nicest, warmest pond in this Agni forsaken Hell-hole."

"Zhao, please reconsider this. There is another way." Iroh said.

"Silence, old man!" A cruel grin grew on his face. "It's time to go fishing."

Zhao's hand shot into the water and returned, a viper-strike which ended with the white koi in his hands. He held it up to the sky, and began to laugh as it flopped and squirmed, but then stopped as it began to air-drown. The light from the moon went from pristine white to a blood red.

"Zhao, I beg you. I implore you. Stop this madness before it's too late! Please!" Iroh begged.

Zhao just turned and jabbed a finger hard into Iroh's gut. It landed right on the hard surface of the spirit scroll which Iroh had stolen. The grin turned from insane, to insanely patronizing. "Oh, General Iroh. Ask me if I find any surprise in your treachery?" He laughed again. "Take him into custody, men. I am a legend, now. I am Zhao the Conquerer. I am Zhao the Moon-slayer. I am ZHAO THE INVICIBLE!"

The firebenders grabbed Iroh's arms and pulled him back, but Iroh could tell, even behind their death's-head masks, they were deeply unsettled by Zhao's behavior. His laughter continued until something black and white shot out of the sky and knocked the fish out of his hand and back into the pond.

"What is this sorcery?" Zhao roared. It was no sorcery, just a winged lemur, who chattered from the tree. Iroh wasn't going to say anything, though. The boy in the orange robes soared down into the oasis, landing opposite Zhao on the ring. Everything was here. The time was now.

"You have to stop this," the Avatar said, pointing his staff at Zhao. "If you destroy the Moon, then you won't just be hurting the Water Tribe. You'll be unbalancing the entire world!"

"What do I care about balance?" Zhao said. "It was always my destiny to destroy the moon and the Water Tribes. Not one more step, Avatar, or I destroy it where it floats!" Zhao leveled a hand toward them. Please, Iroh asked. Let me be wrong. Let this vision be inaccurate.

"You have no idea the kind of chaos you are trying to unleash," the Avatar said quietly.

"He's right," Iroh said. "When I was young, I came to this place, desperate to fight a destiny I had been shown. What I learned here went against everything I had ever learned as Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, but it showed me why I had always been plagued by madness and anger. Zhao, please. Don't do this. There are things these spirits can show you. They can show you a new way, a better way. They can show you how to live without hatred and avarice."

"You and your precious balance. Not just a traitor, but a heretic, then?" Zhao taunted.

Iroh took a deep breath, then twisted his hands in his captor's grasp. He channeled a fire-blast in the way that few ever could, turning heat into a shockwave, blasting the firebenders behind him away without doing any real harm to them. His hands snapped forward again, and his eyes took on a hard, angry sheen. "Step away from the pond, Zhao. Any harm which you do to those spirits will be returned to you tenfold!"

Zhao's smile returned. Iroh's heart sank. It was too late. He was gone. "It's fitting that you're here, in front of your heathen gods, Iroh. Because today," his grin stretched lunatic wide. "WE ARE GODS!"

And Iroh was surprised at what happened. He had hoped so desperately that his vision would be wrong, and it was. He foresaw a burst of flame, and that Tui would be struck down. But that was not what happened. Instead of a burst, a roiling pillar of flame smashed into the water. Iroh's eyes went wide, and he dropped to his knees. The moon went from red, to black, vanished completely from the heavens. Tears began to run freely from Iroh's eyes as he looked into the pond, and beheld the two, dead koi, charred almost beyond recognition, sinking into the deep.

There was a flurry of activity around Iroh, but he couldn't see it. All he could do was watch as the Koi dissolved into motes of spirit-stuff. He had been wrong, but in the worst possible way. Eventually, he became aware that more had entered the Spirit Oasis. The great beast Appa, and its load of passengers, descended onto the island. One, a girl with white hair, was staggering, supported by a wiry young man. "What happened here?" the girl asked, her voice unsteady. There was blood dripping from her ears and nose.

"They're dead," Iroh whispered, not quite able to believe it. "Zhao killed them both."

Katara, the waterbender, saw Iroh and made a waterbending form, but nothing happened. She tried again, but there was naught. She looked up, and realized what had happened. The moon was gone, and with it all waterbending. But that wasn't the worst of it. "Katara, what is this?" the boy asked. He dipped his hand into the water outside the island, and it came back up slick and chunky. Iroh tested it himself. The water outside the Spirit Oasis... it wasn't water anymore. It was clear, and it flowed, somewhat, but it had the viscosity of molasses, and held thick, transluscent chunks. Iroh unsteadily walked to the door, and looked out at the city. Every building not made of stone was beginning to sag and droop, the ice of its construction no longer truly ice.

"What's happening?" Katara asked again.

"A very long time ago," Iroh said. "Before the bending arts began, possibly before humanity came upon this Earth, the world had two moons. They were not like this one. They were smaller, and were not spirits, but actual things, like this world but revolving around us in the sky. Then a cataclysm came, and the moons were stripped away," he said. He sat down on the edge of the spirit oasis, and dangled his feet into the last real water on the planet. "But the worlda already had spirits, spirits which wanted the physical world to continue. Some parts of the heavens, like our sun Agni, already had spirits within them. So, following those examples, some of the spirits entered this world, and became the Moon, the sea, the sky."

"And then, they came to this place, taking on mortal bodies, to give the gift of waterbending to the Tribes," Katara said.

"Not even close," Iroh said. "Waterbending existed long before Tui and La descended. But the two couldn't be apart, and came together. And they died together. Tomorrow, every drop of water in the ocean will be like that," he pointed to the slime that now oozed down the waterfall and flowed away from the oasis. "Every drop of water that flows from the rivers into the sea will become like it. Undrinkable, non-buoyant, useless. In a year, this will be the only drinkable water in the entire world," Iroh said sadly. "I thought I could stop him. I was wrong. I was so wrong."

Katara sat down on the grass, her eyes blank. Iroh understood completely. The Avatar, though, didn't believe the gravity yet. "There must be something we can do."

"There might be," the white-haired girl said. She was unsteady, but her voice held a quiet strength. "When I was born, they gave me to the spirits, and they invested a part of themselves in me. I was marked. I think I finally understand why."

"Yue, what do you mean?" the boy, Sokka, asked.

She looked at him, and with tears running with streamlets of blood, she gave him a forced smile. "I'm so sorry, Sokka. This is my last duty to my people."

Sokka forced a smile, too, and the two touched their foreheads together for a long moment. She then began to shrug her way out of her robes. Aang quickly turned away, but the others didn't. Sokka walked into the pool, supporting her unsteady form. Iroh couldn't help but marvel at the circularity. Forty years, and somebody was swimming with the spirits once again.

"Nothing's happening," she said, staring at the sky.

"Yue, look down," Sokka said. When she did, she saw what the others did. He was up to his waist in the water, but she was standing on its surface. She gasped, then looked at the boy.

"I'm scared," she said quietly. "I don't want to go."

"I'm right here, Yue," Sokka said. His voice was cracking, and tears ran down his face. She smiled. The color began to separate from her, to lift away from her. Her naked form began to look less like flesh and more like an exquisite carving in clearest ice. Her hollowed form leaned down and kissed Sokka one last time, before it began to flow down into the waters of the Spirit Oasis. And a figure, somewhat like the girl, but radiant and glowing white, ascended into the heavens. A full Moon appeared above the Oasis, and the sickening, splattering plop of the waterfall returned to the rushing sounds of true water.

"What are we going to do now?" Katara asked. Iroh glanced over, and felt himself inch back when he saw the boy, Aang. The Avatar. His eyes and mouth glowed with a blue light, and he stood over the deepest part of the oasis. This was the Avatar State in action. In a voice full up of the outrage and hatred of a thousand lives, he spoke.

"I'm going to break the siege," they said. And with that, he shot below the water. The substance which was once not-water began to glow a strange blue, and it flowed out toward the sea. All eyes were on the Avatar, so Iroh took advantage. He quickly walked over to Appa's side, and patted the beast gently. It grunted lightly and otherwise ignored him, as he clambered up and pulled Zuko to the ground. The boy looked even more hurt than usual, but he would survive. Zuko would survive. His visions were not perfect, but they showed him that.

* * *

Zhao walked through the city, marveling in what he had created. The once great structures of the Northern Water Tribe could no longer support their own weight. But in the back of his mind, something horrified him. He reached down into the canals, which ran straight into the sea. The hand came back slick with some sort of mucus. And in the canals ships were beginning to sink, as though the water could no longer support them.

"No. NO! I am Zhao the Invincible! I am victorious!" he shouted as he ran to a bridge which rose higher than any other. It shifted and warped under his feet, but he didn't care. He watched as his ships began to flounder. Then, suddenly, there was light again. The moon held itself in the heavens. Impossible! He had slain the moon spirit! A blue light issued from the water, and a figure appeared on the walls. Not a figure. A monstrosity. It lashed out at the ships, smashing them to pieces in the arctic waters. All of their attempts to attack it fell flat, and it mowed through them. A hundred ships. No, fifty. Twenty. Its wrath was complete and it was brutal. And as quickly as it started, it came to an end.

"There he is!" Zuko's voice came from the darkness. Zhao turned, his eyes watering. Impossible. Zuko was dead. The Dark Prince was dead. But here he was. He leaned against his rotund uncle, unable to fully support himself, but there was no mistaking that facial scar, those eyes. "We have to kill him. He knows too much about us."

"No, Prince Zuko," Iroh said. His eyes were on Zhao, and they were pitiless. Merciless. "He has already died. He just doesn't know it yet," A smile came to Iroh's face. When he spoke it was in Uou, the language of the spirits. "_I once asked a spirit for visions of the future, Zhao. I didn't understand the price I would have to pay, then. And now, looking back, I would pay it again. There is a cost to everything worth having. You tried to have it all, and pay for none of it. What happens next, is the universe demanding its due._"

He scowled and he cast out a hand, directing a bolt of fire at the two. Iroh clasped his hands together, an the attack was split away. Zhao prepared another, but his hand was caught behind him. He glanced back. That glowing water was now directly underneath the bridge, and it had his arm. He tried to fight it, but it had him firmly. With strength of a thousand men, it hauled him from the bridge. The last thing he ever saw, was Zuko, hobbling toward him, his arm outstretched.

* * *

**...but Zhao's having a worse one.**


	16. Survivors

Pakku limped back up to the wall. It had been torn into five sections, with gaping holes between them. But that would change, soon. The soldiers on the ground, realizing that their ships were scuttled and on their way to the deeps, finally laid down arms and surrendered. He watched as his people stood victorious. The cost had been high, but for the Fire Nation, it was higher.

"What have I done?" the young Avatar asked, staring across the waves.

"What needed to be done," Pakku said. "I didn't expect that from you; targeting their transports. You stranded a lot of soldiers on this shore, and they knew it. We'll start bringing in the survivors anon."

"So... I didn't kill anybody?"

"I can't say," Pakku said. "Perhaps not, perhaps so. But you will endure it. Because you have that piece of the Water Tribe in you; perhaps you always had it. You will survive whatever comes, because you have to. Because nobody else can."

The boy curled up and stared across the seas. Pakku turned and spotted something else, though. A tiny ship, quite unlike the metal behemoths that the Fire Nation used. This was one of their own, but not one which would be sailing in conditions like this. He looked out, and he saw a man with grey hair and Fire Nation armor at the tiller. The man stared back. He rose one hand, and the other, making a circle above his head. Pakku smirked, and returned the signal. The White Lotus was everywhere. He limped off of the walls, leaving his fellow Lotus to exit the field. He had messages to send. He had people to talk to. He had a successor to choose. He had a love to rekindle.

* * *

Iroh smiled lightly as the ship bobbed and dipped on the waves. Zuko was passed out from exhaustion, under the cool sun. Iroh was never more proud of him. "When I was your age, I was a different person," he said. Zuko was in no condition to hear him, but it didn't matter. Iroh just needed to say it. "I bartered with Wan Shi Tong, the Spirit Which Knows 10,000 Things, for visions of my future. In exchange, he wanted the happiest day of my life. I didn't think much of it at the time, because I gained so much. But when I lost my wife... when I lost my only son... I know now what it truly cost me."

Iroh shifted in his seat. "I had visions. I saw myself conquering Ba Singh Se. I saw Zhao destroying the Moon. But I also saw that I would be father to my brother's son, and that my brother would be father to mine. I didn't understand that. But Ozai was long childless, and he... influenced Lu Ten. He turned my sweet, innocent little boy into his tool for the 'greatness of the Fire Nation'. I may have sired Lu Ten, but when he died, he was no longer my son: He was Ozai's."

Iroh hung his head. "Then there was you. You were so angry, so desperate. You needed so much, and were despised. Only Ursa, sweet Ursa ever gave you hope and a loving shoulder. When she was banished... I thought you would fall into despair. I feared. Especially when Azula's star began to rise. But when you were banished also, I finally understood that vision. As Lu Ten raised my son when I was away, I could raise you. I could be the father you needed. And you are, you know? When I saw you run to Zhao, despite everything, trying to help that man... I've never been more proud."

Iroh smiled, looking to the south. "Sleep, my Dark Prince. Our journey has only just begun."

* * *

Spymaster, assassin, and bodyguard, all wrapped up into one young woman. Mai couldn't fight what she was. She clambered up the scaffolding which lay atop Omashu, surrounding the half-finished structure. She knew she had seen it. It was unlike anything she'd ever encountered before. More, she needed a distraction. The news had destroyed her.

A pigeon. Not a pigeon-rat, not a pigeon-snake. Just a pigeon. Stranger things had seldom happened. She reached the top level, where the strange little bird stood, eyeing the sleeping King of Omashu. It cooed softly. Somebody wanted to deliver a message to Bumi, but he was in no condition to get it. She slowly, ever so slowly crept up to the bird, before snatching it off the beam. It struggled briefly, but she didn't need it long. She just unfurled the case from its breast and let it fly away. Seating herself on the scaffolding, so high above the city that the world stretched around her in every direction in the night, she just stared. The night of the red-moon had come and passed. She didn't know what it meant. She didn't really care. Then the news came.

The news which destroyed her.

She shook her head. She had to keep moving. Had to keep doing. It wasn't like she could just sit down on the floor like Ty Lee and bawl her eyes out. How long had it been since Mai actually cried? She didn't know. Not recently. She finally got the case open, and a small roll of paper fell into her hand. It was signed with a flower-like shape. She scowled. Somebody was trying to be clever. She read its contents, pausing briefly to try to remember her lessons in Yqanuac. Her eyes widened.

"_The Dark Prince lives. There is hope for the Fire Nation yet._"

He was alive. Zuko was alive.

* * *

End of Book 1: Children of Water.

* * *

**That's the end of part one. It practically wrote itself, but then again, since it stuck close to Canon for much of its length, that makes a lot of sense. When it continues, It'll be Season 2, and we'll see what happens when implied foe-yay between Sokka and Ty Lee blossoms into something a bit more dangerous, or everybody involved. Oh, the fun I will have. It's just a matter of gettin over a fricken month's worth of illness and writing it. It's hard to believe that I got this done in twenty days. **


End file.
